Part 9

PORCUPINE Erethizon epixanthum

The Yellow-haired Porcupine of Yellowstone occurs all over the park. Being an unsociable sort of fellow he is usually found alone, except during the mating season or when the young are yet with their mother. He is a common animal but seldom seen.

He is a heavy set, slow, clumsy animal with short legs and a waddling walk. Very stupid and short-sighted with a habit of complaining audibly to himself as he goes along. Since the porcupine is well protected by a back full of loosely fastened quills, he is very unpopular with the other animals, especially those that might have an idea of making a meal of him.

The quills are his only battle equipment but are sufficient protection against most animals. Each individual quill is equipped with sharp barbs at the tip which easily penetrate flesh, gradually working their way deeper and are very hard to extract. Porky, however, does not have the power to throw his quills, in spite of stories to the contrary. When attacked he bristles up and looks like an animated pincushion and a slap from his quill-loaded tail is sufficient to fill the face and mouth of his would be attacker with a painful collection of quills which he will long remember.

The porcupine’s nose is very sensitive, a good blow on it being sufficient to kill him, so he has learned to tuck it down between his feet for protection, and to turn so that his back and tail are presented to the enemy. There are no quills on his underside and an occasional enemy has learned to reach under with a paw and quickly flip him over on his back in order to expose the unprotected portion for final attack.

The principal food of the porcupine, in winter, is the bark and small twigs of various trees. In the summer, the bark, buds and foliage of many trees, shrubs and plants are used. Porky is very fond of salt and will gnaw on anything that contains it; shovel or other tool handles with deposits of perspiration on them, or antlers after being shed, are a delicacy. Occasionally he kills a tree by removing too much bark but seldom does enough damage to be of economic importance.

One litter with usually one, or rarely if ever two young, is born each year in late April or May. A baby porcupine at birth weighs about a pound and is as large or larger than a bear cub. The den is located among rocks, in cavities under logs or fallen tree tops. However, during most of the year, even in the winter, the favorite place is well up in the tops of the trees.

General description: A large, clumsy rodent with fairly soft hair with which is mixed longer, coarser hair and many stiff, sharp, barbed spines or quills over the upper parts and tail. Tail short, thick and muscular. In color black with longer hairs tipped with greenish-yellow. Total length 32 inches, weight 15 to a maximum of 35 to 40 pounds.

Where found: In all timbered areas of the park and is sometimes seen near the roadsides or trails either during the day or night.

BADGER Taxidea taxus

Many of the smaller animals, especially those of the rodent group, are known for the dens and runways that they dig, some of them becoming rather expert at this activity. Their burrowing activities, however, are undertaken primarily as a means of providing a suitable home for the animal. The Badger, however, is equipped by nature as an excavating machine. He, too, makes a burrow for use as a home but this is only a small part of his digging activities.

Badgers are equipped with large strong claws, especially on the forefeet, and backed by powerful muscles they can literally dig themselves out of sight in a surprisingly short time, throwing out a stream of dirt behind them like a mechanical elevator. It is this ability that he depends upon as a means of securing his food. Badgers are rather clumsy, heavy bodied and short legged animals, lacking the speed and dexterity needed to capture their prey in the open, but how they do like to dig for their food! Living primarily on the smaller rodents, especially ground squirrels, the badger snoops from burrow to burrow until his nose tells him that the occupant is at home, then dirt starts to fly. If the ground squirrel has provided his home with some extra entrances and he is quick to use one of them he may escape, otherwise the badger has secured a dinner.

Entirely beneficial from the standpoint of the kind of food he eats, the badger’s activities in obtaining it soon result in numerous holes throughout the area where his foraging operations are carried on. In areas where domestic stock are ranging these excavations made by the badgers are hazards to the stock and rancher alike, often resulting in a broken leg to the horse that steps into a hole and sometimes serious injury to the rider when he is thrown from the horse as it falls. In such areas this animal is usually hunted or trapped by man. In Yellowstone he is left to live an undisturbed life. The badger is a fearless and vicious little fighter, which combined with his digging ability makes him a match for anything but man and his gun.

Badgers inhabit the plains and prairies or open forests, wherever their principal food items of ground squirrel, gopher or prairie-dog can be obtained. They generally hibernate from October to March, except in the southern portions of their range. The young, probably averaging about three to a litter, are born in May or early June.

General description: A low, heavy bodied animal with short legs, short bushy tail and long shaggy fur. Color a silvery gray grizzled with black. Head rather small, broad and flat with black and white striped markings. Total length 28 inches and weight averaging about 14 pounds.

Where found: Northern part of the Park from Mammoth to Tower Junction and the Lamar Valley, in open sections. Occasionally seen in meadows of the interior parts of the park where the picket-pins are to be found. Badgers are not numerous, but could be called commonly seen residents, especially of the northern side of the park.

SAGEBRUSH WHITE-FOOTED MOUSE Peromyscus maniculatus artemisiae

The White-footed Mouse, Deer Mouse, or Vesper Mouse is an interesting little animal, a member of a very large and widely distributed genus whose members are generally the most common small animal of any given region. They are clean little creatures with large bright eyes, large ears, and tails about as long as their bodies, with gray or brown upperparts and white feet and lower parts.

These mice are found throughout the forests, among rocks, in meadows and open grassy places, living in burrows, among rocks, or in hollow trees and logs and they frequently come into camps and houses. They are expert climbers and will readily take refuge in trees as well as into burrows if the occasion warrants.

White-footed mice depend upon seeds and grains, small nuts and dry vegetable matter for their food rather than green vegetation like the meadow mice, and are rarely carnivorous.

They may have three or four litters of 3 to 7 young each year and so are able to keep pace with the activities of their enemies which include all of the smaller carnivorous animals and the owls.

General description: Upper parts, pale cinnamon to brownish fawn, more dusky along mid-back; underparts and feet white. Total length 6 to 7½ inches with the tail being one-third to one-half of the total length.

Where found: It is possible to find them almost anywhere in the park but since they are nocturnal they are rarely seen in the daytime.

MEADOW MOUSE OR VOLE Microtus sp.

The Meadow Mouse is one of the more common and widely distributed of our small mammals. There are many species and subspecies and some form is to be found practically anywhere in North America.

These little mice prefer the open meadow country where there is plenty of grass the entire year. They may be found in the moist to semi-arid sections and anywhere from sea level to above timberline elevations.

Their presence can be readily detected by the characteristic runways through the grass. The mouse makes the runway both by cutting some of the grass and pushing the balance to the side, and the floor of the runway is kept free from all obstructions. A colony of mice will have a regular labyrinth of these paths with frequent openings into underground burrows and nests. The young are usually born in the underground nests. However, many of the species also build surface nests of thick balls of grass which are used during the winter time. In these nests, when snow blankets the landscape they are warm and secure, and able to run about their passage-ways, beneath the snow in their daily quest for food, for they do not hibernate.

The food of the meadow mouse is chiefly vegetation: grass, foliage, seeds, twigs, roots and bark and at times they may become very destructive to field crops and orchards.