Pikabooh

He walks under the stars, his tail raking the sand behind him. Ranks of ants form an endless line in the dark of the trees, the desert wind blowing dead branches over the dunes. His head is lost among his strange hair. Hair… not really, more like giant dark brown tooth-picks.

His predators are few, his life a long and silent quest for insects and small invertebrates. Sometimes the leopard gives him a try but quickly retracts its claws from his spiny back. More than once a young lion made the mistake of attacking him. He would then curl himself into a deadly ball of sharpened chopsticks.

Pikabooh the porcupine loves his life, but sometimes, when the sun is high in the sky, he wishes his hair was softer, less sharpened. So that finding a mate for reproduction and the very act of mating wouldn’t hurt as much as it does. Love affairs between porcupines often end with a visit at the bush-doctor.