Answers to Go with Susan Smith
Q. I am trying to search for a term online and I’m not getting anything. I think I must be spelling it wrong. Can you help me?
A. I love an excuse to pull out the unabridged dictionary.
Fortunately, I was aware of the word she was looking for, but I had never spelled it myself. I was pretty sure the first four letters were ‘cloi’ and that was enough to find it in the dictionary.
Our “American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language” provides this spelling: cloisonné.
Here is the definition: 1. Decorative enamelwork in which metal filaments are fused to the surface of an object to outline a design that is filled in with enamel paste.
2. The art of processing or such enamelwork.
Words that are taken from another language can be tricky to spell. Cloisonné is based on a French word meaning to partition. There is also a connection to a Latin word meaning to close or lock.
Q. I was in my vet’s office when a man brought in a dog that had a muzzle full of porcupine quills. He said it had happened more than once. I’d like to know more about porcupines and their quills.
A. According to the “International Wildlife Encyclopedia,” few animals prey on porcupines because of their spines. The wild animals that may prey on North American porcupines are wolverines, pumas and fisher martens.
The encyclopedia reports that North American porcupines never attack their enemies. However if cornered, a porcupine will erect its quills and turn its back to strike out repeatedly with its tail. Porcupines do not shoot their quills, but the quills are so lightly attached that when they enter the skin of the enemy they are detached from the porcupine.
I often refer to the books in our juvenile nonfiction for questions like this. Authors of these children’s books always seem to know what children (and adults) are most curious about.
Judith Jango-Cohen’s book on porcupines offers these details: “Porcupine quills are a special kind of thick, stiff hair. Like hair, quills grow and are then shed. Fully grown quills shrink at the base until they loosen and fall out. New quills then grow in to replace them.
“North American porcupines have scale-like barbs on the tips of their quills. You can feel the barbs with your fingers, but they are visible only with a microscope. Barbs allow the quill to glide point-first into a predator’s flesh. But a tug on the base of the quill causes the barbs to flare out like open umbrellas. This makes removing the quills a difficult and painful job.
“Usually quills lie flat, tucked in among a porcupine’s long hairs. But when a porcupine is disturbed or becomes alarmed, muscles raise the quills. If an animal comes into contact with the prickly quills, they stick into its flesh. When the animal pulls away, the quills detach from the porcupine and remain in the victim.
“Being pierced by quills is not only painful, it can also cause serious wounds or even death. A face full of quills can prevent an animal from eating or seeing clearly. Quills can also work their way into an animal and cut its insides.
“Porcupines attack only as a last resort. First they try to scare away predators. When threatened, porcupines’ bodies begin to tremble, causing their front and back teeth to clack and clatter. They also release a foul odor from an opening above the base of their tails.”
I found one more interesting passage in the “Wildlife Encyclopedia:” “Porcupines live in wooded areas, preferring conifers, junipers and poplars. Although clumsily built they can climb well and they will also swim.
“They lie up during the day among rocks or in hollow trees and feed mainly at dusk and at dawn. They do not hibernate, but they take to dens during bad weather.”
