Porcupine’s On-Point Dance Moves Have People Calling Him ‘Sir Dancelot'
Animals can really surprise you. You think you know everything about a creature and then BOOM — they do something totally unexpected. Two travelers were positively tickled when they caught a porcupine doing something a little bit strange recently. The porcupine was getting his groove on — and he was actually pretty good.
We've never seen a porcupine dance before, but the two RV travelers, Jay and Clint, were so impressed.
Set to the perfect background song ("The Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats), the clip shared by the two shows the porcupine shuffling from one foot to the other. He was really moving! It looked like the little one was about to try one of those fancy dance challenges on TikTok. Go little porcupine, go!
"This is Lancelot the porcupine but we think it should be Dancelot" the two men joked in the video's caption. Yep, this little guy is a dancer in his heart.
People in the comments section were obsessed. "If they don’t dance, then they are no porcupine," joked one commenter. "WE MUST PROTECT HIM WITH OUR LIVES!!!" exclaimed someone else. "My spirit animal!!! No joke!!! Ty this made my Monday!!!" cheered one woman. "Look at that lil guy go," wrote one commenter.
Although some people worried that Lancelot's happening moves were actually a bad sign. "It’s so sad because he’s definitely stressed out," pointed out one woman. "I think his dance means he's stressed," another commenter agreed. "Looks to be bored," added another commenter. While one person thought it might be a sign of something really upsetting. "Look up Zoochosis. It’s when animals display swaying, pacing or climbing the walls of their enclosures because they’re losing their minds in captivity," he wrote.
What Is Zoochosis?
Though possibly not a technical term, many animal activists have used the label to describe certain behaviors of animals in captivity. Things like tigers pacing back and forth endlessly in their enclosures or elephants sways back and forth rhythmically have thought to be signs of zoochosis.
Activists describe the condition as being a form of psychosis that happens when animals are in zoos. This psychosis results in stereotypic behaviors, which are monotonous, obsessive, and repetitive actions that have no purpose. These stereotypic behaviors do not exist in animals in the wild — only animals that are in captivity. They are a sign that animals in captivity are not doing well and are suffering from poor mental health.
It's not clear if the porcupine is suffering from this condition, however it's a good reminder that animals in captivity deserve better understanding. It's easy to interpret animal behavior based on our own, but animals speak a language all their own. It's up to us to learn how to understand them!
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