AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas’ porcupines are moving more and more into Central Texas.
The Texas A&M Forest Service said earlier this month that the porcupine population has grown in Central Texas over the last few years.
Texas Parks and Wildlife does not survey for porcupines so their exact populations are not known. Tania Peña, a wildlife biologist in Hays and Travis counties at TPWD, said the animals have historically moved eastward in Texas into Travis County.
The spiky animals’ range was previously limited to west Texas and the Panhandle regions of Texas. They started moving toward Central Texas in the 20th century, according to TPWD.
A Reddit user posted Sunday about spotting one at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center over the weekend. Center staff said they hadn’t seen any recently.
In 2021, a porcupine was found in downtown Austin up in a tree. In 2022, a Wimberley farmer caught a prickly pair of porcupines eating his crops. In both instances, the animals were safely relocated.
Peña said reasons for their movement are not clear, but they are adapting well.
The cutie pie creatures can be destructive to Texas trees, however. They feed on the inner bark of red oak, sumac and mesquite trees — which can kill the trees.
In Central Texas, porcupines like to eat gum bully, white shin oak and black cherry trees.
