All-white creature identified as rare albino porcupine

CORRECTS YEAR TO 2019 FROM 2017 – In this Tuesday, July 16, 2019, photo taken provided by the Seashore Trolley Museum, a rare albino porcupine waddles around near the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine. The museum asked for help identifying the strange animal after it appeared on the grounds this week. (Fred Hessler/Seashore Trolley Museum via AP)

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — A curious visitor to a Maine train museum that resembled a white throw pillow or perhaps a lost toupee turned out to be a rare albino porcupine.

The young rodent turned up Tuesday at Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, perplexing the staff, who sought help identifying it via social media. The consensus was it’s an albino porcupine.

The Portland Press Herald reports the animal appeared to be a baby because its quills had not yet hardened. A spokeswoman for the museum said midday Wednesday that it hadn’t yet been seen again, but it was assumed to be lurking in the area.

Porcupines are common in Maine, though albino ones certainly aren’t. About one of every 10,000 of the species is an albino porcupine.  /muf