ZooBorns

Introducing Pip the Porcupine Pup

The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust recently welcomed a baby African Crested Porcupine named Pippa or Pip for short. Baby porcupines are called "porcupettes" and their quills are soft for the first few days. However in adulthood this porcupine's quills provide a potent defensive weapon. When threatened, this species turns away from its aggressor, stamps its little feet, then charges rear-end first with its sturdiest quills sticking straight out. Doesn't look like Pip or mom have too much to be upset about though in salad paradise.

Photo credits: Colm Farrington

Baby Porcupine Twins Pig Out

Three-week-old Porcupine babies break for lunch at the Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park, Arizona. Photographer Nicki Miller caught snaps of these prickly little girls (named Quilly & Quinny) last week. The babies are only a month old and enjoy snacking on a special mixture of veggies and fruits.

A Fluffy Baby Paraguayan Porcupine

Uruguay's M’Bopicuá Breeding Station keeps surprising us with births we haven't seen anywhere else. Here we have a gentle Paraguayan Hairy Dwarf Porcupine. Born with soft fur that turns into hard spines with age, these porcupines live in trees eating fruits and vegetables and dig into ant nests for dessert. 

Baby Cape Porcupine aka "Prickly Piggy"

This baby Cape porcupine was born June 6th at Switzerland's Zoo Basel. Unusually long-lived for a rodent, Cape porcupines live up to 20 years. Although the English name is hardly any better, we are always amused by the German translations of animal names, in this case the German word for "baby porcupine" roughly translates to "Prickly Piggy." 

Mom has food. Baby prickly pig is intrigued

Perhaps nuzzling will provide access to delicious carrot

Is there delicious carrot in this porcu's future? Tune in next week to find out.

A Prickly Bundle of Porcupine Joy

This baby Cape porcupine was born eight weeks ago at the Naples Zoo weighing just 1 lb, but since then the prickly critter has grown to seven times her birth weight! Like all porcupines, at birth the little girl's quills were soft like hair but began to harden almost immediately. 

Handle with care

Rock-on little porcu

Porcupine Babies are Fluffy

Sorry to get your hopes up, but the Moody Gardens' porcupine baby, born February 26th, is not able to change colors. Each of the pictures below does, however, show the little fur-ball in a different light for your prickly, prehensile-tailed pleasure. 

"Benito" is the second birth of his kind in Galveston, TX's Moody Gardens history. 

Patriot the Porcupine at the Central Florida Zoo

Born on the 4th of July at the Central Florida Zoo, this tiny South African crested porcupine was aptly named "Patriot." Weighing 1lb at birth, South African crested porcupines are born with fully formed quills, which are initially soft as hair but harden within 24 hours. Baby porcupines are also called "porcupettes!"

Porcupine affection is a delicate affair.

Patriot the porcupine meets the family

Two Week Old Prehensile-Tailed Porcupine

Prehensile-tailed porcupines are born with soft, reddish quills which eventually turn in to hard spikes as it grows. “Prehensile-tailed” refers to the fact that this tree-living species uses its tail to grip and hang on branches. This  porcupine, pictured here at two weeks old, is on exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Zoo's  Small Mammal House.

Photo Credit: Jessie Cohen/Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Date July 1, 2008