I surprised a porcupine on the ground up in the spruce grove this morning. It was walking along making little grunting noises when I interrrupted. Uncharacteristically, after showing me its backside, it then turned to face me and approached to with two feet of me, clicking its teeth. As it waddled away, it resumed grunting — this is faintly audible in the video.
–Dave
Posted by rraw on February 20, 2008 at 5:33 am
So it was its teeth, that noise. Being in possession of a fearsome set of gnashers myself I must remember that as a defense strategy.
Posted by Dave on February 20, 2008 at 11:19 am
Yeah. That’s what I was doing in the infamous photo on my website: chattering back at a porcupine. The wildlife rehabilitator whose baby porcupine is featured in a series of adorable YouTube videos
says that teeth chattering has more meanings than just threat, though: