After a bear has experienced the sting of porcupine quills, it’s understandable that the mere scent of a porcupine would signal a flight response.
The accompanying trail-cam footage, featured Sunday by Yukon Wildlife Cams, shows a black bear exhibiting remarkable speed and agility after sniffing a tree that had presumably been claimed by porcupines.
David Troup, who runs Yukon Wildlife Cams, explained Sunday via Facebook:
“The highly acute sense of smell that bears possess provides them with information to do such things as find food and in this case, avoid potential danger. The tree of interest was scent marked many times by porcupines over the summer, and this wet bear’s fight or flight instinct seemingly kicked into gear.”
One comment reads, “Must’ve had quills before.”
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Another: “I wish my dogs would react the same.”
And this: “Always amazes me how fast these large bears can move.”
Troup’s cameras are stationed on remote wilderness trails and he shares footage sporadically, sometimes weeks later. The bear footage was captured in August.
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