Since it first opened in 1984, there has almost always been a porcupine within the confines of Science North.
Science director Julie Moskalyk said the porcupine has always been an iconic Science North animal. That's why she was excited to announce the arrival of Maple, the newest animal ambassador at the science centre.
“We were sad when Quillan passed away, but we were so excited when Zoo Sauvage de St-Félicien had a young female porcupine available,” she said.
Maple, named in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary, was born and raised at the Zoo Sauvage de St-Félicien in St-Félicien, Quebec. Since she was born under human care and interacted with her human keepers regularly, Maple cannot be released back into the wild and will now call Science North her home.
Science North partnered with the same zoo last February when the science centre welcomed a new beaver, Kashkuanashku.
Maple will join Science North’s other animal ambassadors to foster connections with nature and inspire Science North visitors to protect our wild species and spaces, said Meghan Mitchell, staff scientist in the forest lab at Science Northerners.
“We use our animal ambassadors here at Science North to educate and empower people to care about the animals in their own back yards,” she said.
“Right from the start, Maple has been very curious and very enthusiastic about everything we give to her. We'll start taking her out of her habitat after hours so she gets familiar with her surroundings, and eventually she'll be at a point where visitors will be able to interact with her, but we aren't at that point yet.”
Maple is the third porcupine, but the first female of her species, to call Science North home. Science North's first porcupine was Ralph, who was a mainstay at the science centre for almost two decades.
Quillan was the second porcupine to join the Science North family. He was there for 14 years before passing away in November 2016.
“We have a number of animal ambassadors at Science North, and they are almost all focused on animals in Northern Ontario, the animals we meet in our back yards,” Moskalyk said.
“The spirit of our program is to get people to learn about animals in their everyday lives.”
