People, people, people.
I do not have the answer to the question: Why did the porcupine cross the road?
Why indeed...?
I know you think I have the answer because about 400 of you have cheerfully (or morbidly) Googled that question within the last week and ended up at my Opening the door, Walking outside blog from last year. Here is the blog you discovered: http://centria.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/why-did-the-porcupine-cross-the-road/ (And, strangely enough, this highlighted blog is the #1 Google suggestion which comes up when you type in that question.)
Here’s what I want to know (and the porcupine wants to know too): Why in the world are you seeking an answer to this question?
Is there an Internet prize dangling out there somewhere if you get the right answer?
It’s kind of like the chicken question, isn’t it? Why did the chicken cross the road? Are you googling the chicken query too? Looking for jokes?
Is it a philosophical quandary? Must you find the answer before you sleep? Do you lie awake pondering this question, determined to KNOW?
Or have you simply noticed dozens and dozens of porcupines who have tried–without success–to cross the road and you truly want to know–why can’t porcupines stay off the highways?
Do you think porcupines have these kind of questions?
Porcupine #1 to friend: Hey, why are the humans crossing that road?
Porcupine #2: You gotta be kidding! Why would you even care?
Porcupine #1: Their behavior simply interests me philosophically.
Porcupine is crossing the road Just Because he (or she) can.
Nahhh, I don’t think porcupines are wondering why we cross the road. They are wiser than we are. If they even think about us, they assume there are a number of reasons involving desire, fear, procreation, safety, or boredom.
They aren’t making jokes about our motives…or ARE they? Maybe they heard some of our jokes:
How do porcupines play leapfrog?
—Very carefully.
What is a porcupine’s favorite food?
—Prickled onions.
What did the porcupine say to the cactus?
—Is that you, Mama?
(OH MY GOODNESS, I can’t believe I just googled “Porcupine Jokes” and spent ten minutes reading kids’ jokes about every animal on the planet. See? See? We’re a crazy species, aren’t we?? And I’m not even telling all the ‘prick’ jokes which ended up on the more adult joke sites.)
So anyway. That’s my question today. Why ARE you people wondering why the porcupine crossed the road? Can anyone tell me? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone….?
And I know you’re wondering: “WHY is this blog writer wondering why people are wondering why porcupines cross the road?”
LOL! We’re ALL crazy! 🙂
Lake Superior Spirit 
Kathy – Inquiring minds (mine) want to know HOW you got so close to the porcupine for the photograph without turning into a dart board for his/her quills?!
Great post!
Ahhh, Laurie, you would have to peek at last year’s blog to know THAT story! OK, I will tell you so you don’t have to click over there. We were driving home from an Adventure and a porcupine was crossing the road. I slammed on the brakes and invited it for a photography session. It waddled toward the car and I dangled out of the driver’s window as it approached. However, then it meandered UNDER the car… and we then couldn’t drive for a while because we feared for the little creature’s safety.
400? Wow!
Imagine 400 people coming to your door. “Hello. We are hear because legend has it only you can answer our riddle…”
Emma, and to disappoint SO MANY people!!! Strange how legends get started…
My my Kathy how your mind works! What fun! I don’t care why or if the porcupine crossed the road other then to take it’s photograph! I don’t think we have any Porcupines here in my little wood, but one never knows! Of course the dogs would chase it before I had a chance to see it.
Lulling away … not got to cut the grass, write my blog/pages, and who knows what else.
I am Love, Jeff
Jeff, this here mind is kinda CRAZY!! One minute it’s lulling and having forest meditations and the next minute it’s carrying on about porcupines and Facebook. Goodness! Aren’t minds suppose to be consistent??? (No, no, Mind, please don’t be consistent! We love you in all your variety!! Don’t we love our minds, Jeff? Well, most of the time, anyway… Some of the time… LOL!)
I don’t care for that animal. Although I should but not really. The jokes were CORNY but FUNNY at the same time. YES we are all CRAZY in or on WAYS.
Kryssy, they WERE corny, weren’t they? ha ha…it’s fun to hear kids jokes again, isn’t it?
This was hysterical, Kathy! (But I think we’re SUPPOSED to wonder!)
“The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man it is to know that and to wonder at it.”
Jacques Cousteau
Oh Barbara, I am glad you laughed. I was laughing like crazy when writing this. Maybe nobody else thinks it’s funny????
I thought it was funny! Thanks for a laugh on what has otherwise been a day that I’ll be happy to have behind me.
PS .. but happy NOT to have a porcupine behind me! 😉
I worked for a veterinarian when I was in college and had the not-so-fun chore one day of helping to pluck quills from the muzzle of a very unlucky pooch.
Oh good, Karma, another laugher! YES! I can not imagine how awful that would be for that pooch with a face-full of quills. I remember our black lab Bucky once experienced the same fate. Not fun…
OMG 🙂 I sure was laughing, as this was a slight switch from what you have been doing.
He sure makes a cute picture….
Kim
Tee hee, Kim, we have to mix in funny with serious! Life in its ever-changing perspectives… Glad to hear you were another laugher.
…so lovely to catch up with you… from pollen plumes to porqupines. and so nice to know that you, nadja and i have all shared a magical butterfly moment.
Catherine, as we talked on the phone earlier today, I was ever so excited to see that you stopped by!! Love our magical butterfly moments…
I’m pretty sure porcupines cross the road for the same reason chickens do, or you and I do, or for the same reason the bear goes over the mountain. Because it’s there and they, and we, can. But I must confess to a bit of concern about the people who are Googling that. Perhaps it’s a stress-induced situation.
Now I’m laughing, Carol! Although it isn’t funny, is it?, if the people are really stressed-induced and desperate. Yikes! (And, by the way, at least three people found THIS blog by googling the same question yesterday. Not a one of them commented! Why not? It’s simply a puzzlement. 🙂
I have never actually seen a porcupine in real life…so it has never occurred to me to ask this particular question. Now I have resolved that it is OK if I never know! But it was fun wondering.
Excellent conclusion, Dawn! It’s OK not to know! But ohmygosh, didn’t we have the bestest time contemplating it? 🙂
Why indeed – something new t ponder… I do like the photos of the Porkie.
Whoops – I’m getting tired – I meant “to” ponder!
Hi Barb! Glad you enjoyed the Porkie photos. It was fun for me to re-visit last autumn’s Exciting Adventure. Hope you got some sleep last night!
I do love how your mind works, Kathy…..from philosophical to porcupines to philosophical porcupines!?!?!? Fun! 🙂
Tis a strange mind, indeed, Cindy Lou! Even I have to laugh at its sillliness… Philosophical porcupines! What’s NEXT?
The porcupine crossed the road because it was the chicken’s day off. Or was that why the elephant crossed the road?
I’ve heard that porcupines are attracted to roads because of the dried salt on them left from the winter. Animals of all types are attracted to the road because sometimes it’s just easier to walk along the wide open road rather than through the mosquito infested dense woods.
Peop;e query why porcupines cross the road when they can’t sleep at night after hitting one on the road.
Amy, Excellent. NOW when SERIOUS people Google this question…and scroll down through all the comments…they will find an Actual Answer hidden among all this silliness. I truly love how you so often know the realistic answer to these scenarios. And of course that’s why people are searching. It has to be. 🙂
lol! Search engine terms can be fascinating and often raise some interesting questions about WHY someone would even be asking or looking for such a thing.
Unfortunately, my blog’s search engine terms are pretty boring stuff. That’s my fault for publishing Wal-Mart’s call-in-sick phone number.
I have never seen a porcupine other than in pictures (and yours are great!). Maybe that’s why I never wondered about why they would cross a road.
I enjoyed the jokes, too. 🙂
Robin, last year people kep searching for “vegetable scraps” on my blog. Weird, huh? You get the search for Wal-Mart’s call in sick phone number? That is SO funny!! That’s not boring at all…
Glad to hear you liked the jokes. Thank goodness you guys laughed.
Kathy, do you know, I actually just typed that question into Google because I wanted to know whether your blog really did come up first on the list – AND IT DID! Not that I ever doubted that, but I thought, maybe, if someone from another country googles the question, there might be other answers popping up – but there weren’t! Giggle….
And by the way, two weeks ago was the first time I ever saw a LIVE porcupine. Can you believe it? One would think that they are far more common, but – alas – I have never seen one in the wild before. Perhaps it’s because they’re mainly nocturnal creatures? Yes, I’ve encountered their quills on the ground before, when walking through forests, but the porcies themselves, Nope. Unfortunately, the ones I saw were in a cage, which was not very nice, but at least it allowed me to see them up close at last.
ha! Reggie! You really typed it in. Oh good! Maybe THIS blog will be listed on there soon. Just a sec. Let me go look. YES!! It’s #7 on the list. Laughing…
How cool that you saw your first porkie. That’s awesome. How close did you get? You don’t want to get TOO close to the little fellas. But close enough to see them. Did you see the dead porcupine picture I posted a few weeks/months ago? That was the closest I had ever been to one of them. Some people around here call them Quill Pigs. I think that is insulting. Poor things. I would NEVER call them a Quill Pig.
The reason that question has been searched so much is because of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFZtOk42ets&annotation_id=annotation_762654&feature=iv, where that joke is about to be told but we never find out the awnser. So I imagine that alot of people, like me, searched that joke/question to find the awnser after watching it and came across this blog, like I did.
Sean, thank you, thank you! I do think you’re right. (I wonder why you are the only person who bothered to answer this question?) I thank you mightily that you stopped by to comment… Don’t know about Grandpa Lemon and Orange, though. 🙂
I am a park ranger in Oregon looking up interesting facts about porcupines for a program I’m doing tomorrow night and read this. Made my night!!! I wonder all the time what our wildlife laughs about when we aren’t looking!
Thank you, Erin, for taking the time to comment and to enjoying this blog. (Can’t you just picture some of the wildlife roaring on their backs and slapping their knees at the antics WE humans do? tee-hee. Funny picture!)