This acts as a non-slip surface and helps them climb trees. Sometimes, a tail drag mark is visible in the trail. Porcupine scat is in pellet form, and often found in piles at the base of a tree where the animal has been feeding. The picture at left shows a tree girdled by a porcupine. This type of feeding sign is common.
Fishers are predators that can eat porcupines.
They flip the porcupine over to get at the soft underside, which lacks quills. Porcupines love salt and will chew on wooden tool handles that have absorbed perspiration to get the salt Front foot of porcupine cast in plaster. Hind foot of porcupine. Note the pebbly texture on both feet. The first porcupine I encountered was on the ground at Albee Creek Campground at Humboldt Redwoods State Park.