A porcupine at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum died last week, museum officials said.
Quillbert, the North American porcupine, was experiencing gastrointestinal issues for two days before he died Wednesday, February 19, the museum said in a Facebook post. He was 2 years old.
Quillbert was born in Minnesota in 2017 and joined the museum in April.
His necropsy at the Arizona Veterinary Diagnostic Lab will reveal more about his death, the post said. The necropsy results will also be Quillberts final contribution to his and other species’ survival, the museum said. Results may take up to two months, the post said.
Shawnee Riplog-Peterson, a mammalogy and ornithology curator at the museum, said Quillbert adapted to Tucson and the Sonoran Desert quickly.
His favorite foods were corn, broccoli, jicama and palo verde logs, in that order, Riplog-Peterson said. Quillbert was always excited about food, so museum employees were able to use that as a training tool, she said.
"He was kind of a sneak," Riplog-Peterson said. “He would try to get into the keeper service area.”
As a nocturnal animal, Riplog-Peterson said museum visitors would likely find Quillbert napping, often in the highest areas of his exhibit. Quillbert loved napping, she said.
"This is like losing a member of the family," Riplog-Peterson said.
Visitors can still see a North American porcupine at the museum, but only during special programming. Rue, the porcupine, is part of the Sonoran Animal Spotlight presentation, said Kat Rumbley, spokeswoman for the Desert Museum.
The program is at 12:15 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and the education topic and species of animals presented varies, according to the museum's website.
When he's not in the program, Rue lives at the museum but is kept behind the scenes most of the time.
