Community Corner
Meet the Zoo: Mama the Porcupine
After losing her mate and son, Mama has a new friend, Sam, who arrived just this week.
Some of the Prospect Park Zoo inhabitants have rather prickly personalities. And some are just plain prickly.
“Mama” is a 20-year-old North American porcupine who lives on the Discovery Trail with Asian Red Pandas and North American otters as neighbors. She has a nice big barn to live in and her keepers make sure she has all the comforts she needs.
Mama was not always alone. She had a mate and in 2000, and gave birth to a son. The three animals lived together for many years until, sadly, she lost her mate and her son. Although porcupines are generally solitary animals, Prospect Park Zoo staff thought it would be good to find a pal and just this week, Mama has a new exhibit-mate who hails from Queens … the Queens Zoo that is. The male, Sam, is an 18-year-old porcupine who also lost his mate and is now alone.
Find out what's happening in Park Slopewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
North American porcupines can be found from Alaska to northern Mexico and in a wide variety of habitats from tundra, forests, and even desert chaparral. But North America is not the only place where porcupines can be found. In fact, there are 29 species of porcupine that can be found in Asia, North Africa, southern Europe, and South America.
The Prospect Park Zoo features three species: North American, African brush tailed, and South American prehensile tailed porcupines. And while they come in different shapes and sizes, they have one very distinctive common characteristic: their quills. These are made from modified hair coated with keratin which is like our fingernails. Porcupines can not fling or “shoot” their quills anymore than you can shoot your fingernails. But the quills can release on contact which is why these prickly critters must be handled with care.
Find out what's happening in Park Slopewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Mama’s diet often matches a wild diet for porcupines: roots (think carrots and yams), stems, berries, leaves (corn and kale), and nuts in summer, evergreen needles and bark in winter (she often gets pruned branches to gnaw on). One of Mama’s favorite seasonal treats is forsythia with its bright yellow flowers. Yum!
If you come out to zoo this weekend and say hello to Mama and her new friend, spending their golden years together in one of the prettiest and peaceful areas of Brooklyn.
