The front teeth of a porcupine has chewed the bark and wood off of this birch.

A family of porcupines ate the back of this birch damaging the tree but leaving a beautiful design.

We discovered that a family of porcupines is living under one of our cabins in the Adirondacks. Unfortunately, they  chose  a pair of white birch on the path to the front door as their dinner plate. Bark and wood  is part of their diet and what keeps them going in winter. If only they would go from tree to tree and not completely ravish a tree until it dies. There are large patches of bare wood along the trunks of the trees, some up near the top. The designs they carve with their large strong teeth are beautiful and visitors stop to admire them not realizing what has caused them.

According to National Geographic “the porcupines found in North and South America are good climbers and spend much of their time in trees. Some even have prehensile (gripping) tails to aid in climbing. The North American porcupine is the only species that lives in the U.S. and Canada, and is the largest of all porcupines. A single animal may have 30,000 or more quills. North American porcupines use their large front teeth to satisfy a healthy appetite for wood. They eat natural bark and stems, and have been known to invade campgrounds and chew on canoe paddles. North American porcupines also eat fruit, leaves, and springtime buds.”