Secret Creatures: Porcupine

In a tiny pocket of Africa's wilds, elusive animals make a living in the hidden underwater to survive and escape the most ruthless of predators, all the time looking for food to stay alive. Porcupines live in family groups, but they do prefer to forage alone during the night. While dad searches for the biggest wild roots, mother and four-month-old baby follow another trail into the grasslands of thorny bush. A loud snuffle compromises the position of the porcupine father. Porcupines make good eating if a cat gets past the prickly covering. Luckily for both the porcupine and the cat, no one gets hurt tonight. This afternoon, mother and baby porcupines start to forage early. Their first stop, a young acacia tree clad in a palatable covering. Using powerful incisors, they strip off the bark, one of the most nutritious parts of the tree, after the pods, containing fibre, protein and plenty of moisture. Between damaging tender trees and digging up tubers, an adult porcupine eats almost a kilogram of vegetable matter each night. The evening's feasting gets even better from now on. Along the way, the female digs shallow hollows to pull out bulbs, tubers and juicy roots. At the same time, baby finds many things to distract him. At this age, he's almost independent. One more month and he'll be foraging on his own. But tonight, he spends most of his energy on entertainment. Surprisingly, in between the playing, loud snuffling, grunting and quill rustling, their hearing is the most acute of their senses. They easily make out foreign sounds, noise and mum freezes. But baby panics, and the female rustles into the undergrowth as well. Oblivious to the alarm they caused, the lions shuffle by. The porcupine father joins his mate to forage. Although he prefers to look for food alone, he does occasionally stay with his family, but an underlying reason determines the male's decision. Willingly, the female presents herself to him with prickly tail lifted and out of the way, so as not to impale him during the quick mating act. She is not an oestrus. It's still too early after the birth of their baby. However, he mates with her to ensure the next oestrus cycle. After all, this is his lifelong partner. In a few months' time, when their weaned youngster leaves to fend for himself, the mating act will be performed for real.