Pictured are dogwinkles which can be found along the Bras d’Or Lake.

In this column, we are going to revisit the porcupine (Mi’kmaq: matues) and its colourful quills. In particular, we are going to look at the sources of violet (nisqunanamu’k) and blue (musqunamu’k) pigments. The red (mekwe’k) and yellow (wataptek) quill colours came from plants but we may have to wade in the Bras d’Or estuary…

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Dr. Annamarie Hatcher