Above is the video for the Parry Gripp song “Dance, Porcupine, Dance,” a favorite around LoCOHQ. We include it here to illustrate this point: Porcupines are great and everyone loves them. Challenge us.

Unfortunately, porcupine populations — which play a vital part in maintaining habitat diversity in coastal forests — are declining throughout California. In an attempt to better understand this phenomenon, HSU wildlife professor Tim Bean is asking North Coast residents with eyeballs to share the details on any recent porcupine encounters they may have had, whether it be with a live animal or evidence of one (see, poop). 

If you’ve got a minute, scurry on over to the excellently URL’d PorcuFinder.com and share your prickly experiences. Additionally, Mr. Bean is interested in finding people “who might have porcupines on their land, and would be willing to host a game camera and salt board to see if they’re really there.” Are you that landowner? Email him at Tim.Bean@humboldt.edu.

For more on local porcupine decline, click on over to the latest edition of the Friends of the Dunes newsletter and read Bean’s piece “A Prickly Loss.”