| - Porcupine kill - - Fox Den- Armstrong County, PA 3/07/02 |
| Fox hole A fox den which was still being used up until at least Easter, 2002. By June, however, we saw no more signs of animals in or around the dens. If you look closely in this picture, you can see fur and feathers around the entrance. |
| Escape Hole This appears to be an escape hole. I would assume it is for the same fox that occipies the den in the previous picture because it close to it. If you look just to the lower left of the hole, you can see some fur. I collected this and it appears to be from a raccoon. (See the "Bones" page for other things found in front of this hole) |
| Porcupine carcass (1) This is the porcupine as we found it. With the picture taken from this far away, you can see the extent of the kill. |
| Porcupine carcass (2) Closer look at the porcupine. The head is on the left (upside down) and the legs and pelvis are on the right. The legs and lower abdomenal area are completely skinned which shows the efficiency of the predator. |
| Porcupine carcass (3) After it was moved by one of the dogs, the total length of the porcupine was really surprising. It was still intact and the eyes were still in perfect condition (which means it was very recently killed). |
| Porcupine Quills This was a pile of quills found about 3 feet away from the body and main pile of quills. We actually saw these before we saw the body. |
| Habitat in the area This is the habitat where all three things were found. About halfway down the first picture, you can barely make out the ledge where the porcupine was found. Off to the left of the second picture (just over the hill) is where the fox hole(s) were found. (Other habitat pictures are available on the main page) |
| All of this surprised me because they were all so close to each other. I guess you just never know how much wildlife can be found so close to your home. This particular area is near and partially in old stripmines and mostly in a pine forest. All of these things were found above the actual stripmines, but they could very well be a part of these animals' habitats. I'm not entirely sure what killed the porcupine, but I think it may have been attacked and dropped by one of the great horned owls in the area. That is my best guess because the face was basically unharmed and when ground predators attack a porcupine they go for the face. I was camping just a few hundred feet from the spot where the porcupine was killed on the night it happened. There was a fox den about 20 feet away from my tent and one of the foxes sat up on top of the hill and barked at me for about six hours that night. That may be relevant. |
| Armstrong County, PA |