North American Porcupine: "But Wesley, what about the ROUSes?" "Rodents of unusual size? I don't think they exist..."

Well, here we are, back to the rodent family. The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) is the second largest rodent in the United States. It is truly a "rodent of unusual size". NA porcupines are herbivores that eat shoots, leaves, bark, and fruit. If they come across a carcass, they might chew on its bones for calcium and salt. They can climb trees, though not quickly. Porcupines are generally very easy-going critters because they have such a great built in self-defense system. They have 30,000 quills with little barbs at the end that keep a predator from getting too close to their tender flesh. So, how did I get bitten by one of these docile creatures? Stupidity of course! I was feeding him an almond and he took the almond and a chunk of my index finger as well.
That thing bled like a son of a gun! Blood was running down my arm, visitors at the zoo were looking on in horror, and here I am, stuffing my bleeding appendage back into the welder's gloves we use when handling a porcupine, hoping that the blood doesn't seep through it too quickly. I scooped up the porcupine and walked quickly to an employee bathroom with a reassuring smile to the visitors. "It's alright everyone. I'll be right back. Nothing to see here. No, it doesn't hurt too badly. Really." Meanwhile, I'm thinking to myself "ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. This hurts. It really, really hurts. And why won't it stop bleeding?"
Once in the bathroom, I checked the area for anything the porcupine could get into, found it to be "porc-proof", and put him on the ground, locking the door behind us. I ripped off the welder's glove and grabbed a wad of paper towels to press on the freely bleeding finger. The cut that was causing all the bleeding was surprisingly shallow. From the amount of blood, you would have thought that I'd lost part of the finger. I washed out the cut thoroughly and applied firm pressure to it. The bleeding slowed to a trickle, so I wrapped my finger with a few layers of paper towel (which doesn't disintegrate as quickly as toilet paper) and put my gloves back on. Then the porcupine and I returned to our adoring fans (well, his adoring fans).
So then what? Did I develop a terrible infection? Did my finger swell up and fall off? Did they have to amputate my hand and give me a hook? Fortunately for me, and sadly for the conclusion of this story, nothing truly terrible happened as a result of this animal bite. My finger was sore for several weeks, and I kept bumping it on tables, which re-opened it and made me hop around biting my lip to keep from swearing in front of "zoo-tots" (little kids that come to day camp at the zoo). But, all my fingers and toes are still firmly attached. Sorry.