Every spring I recall an old Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies cartoon from my childhood. The cartoon starts out looking like a nature documentary as the camera pans through the forest. Then the narrator says, “It’s spring … even the porcupines are in love.” Two porcupines repeatedly pucker up, kiss, then jump back in pain with an “ow ow ow ow!” You gotta love that classic Looney Tunes humor.

So here’s a little spring quiz for everyone. What is the name of that episode and is it available anywhere?

My kids are probably tired of hearing my wife and I quote it every time someone mentions spring. I’d love to show the cartoon to them but I can’t find it. It would stand to reason that it may be a Pepé Le Pew story, but I’m not sure. We own the first three Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD box sets and it’s not on any of those.

An Update for Spring 2012

Thanks to a follow-up e-mail exchange with commenter Boonya2, I now have the rest of the details. Thanks!

It is a 1959 Merry Melodies cartoon titled “Unnatural History” and directed by Abe Levitow. I was right in remembering it being a documentary style spoof, but it was not a Pepé le Pew story. (Although a Pepé looking character makes a brief, silent cameo in one shot.) The whole cartoon is a series of short, funny gags that I remembered from my childhood. The porcupine bit is just a tiny part near the end.

The official lines are “Spring in the forest and love is everywhere. Even the porcupines are kissing … oh, but very carefully.”

There is a somewhat low quality version on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFtefL_ElzE

A Wikipedia article has more details at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnatural_History_(film)

Although there is an IMDB entry, it doesn’t have much information:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053396/

As far as I know this cartoon is not available in any collection currently for sale.