MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee County Zoo recently announced a prehensile-tailed porcupine was born on March 27 in the Smalls Mammals building.
The baby’s gender is unknown yet, but it is the second offspring of mom Quinn and dad Seamus.
Their first offspring, Bristle, was born at the zoo last May and recently moved to the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa. The move was recommended by the Species Survival Plan of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
🚨 Baby News! 🚨
— Milwaukee County Zoo (@MilwaukeeCoZoo) April 13, 2022
A porcupette was born to Quinn, our prehensile-tailed porcupine! Let's watch our animal care team perform the ultrasound when we found out the exciting news!
Ultrasound: 1/24/2022
Birth: 3/27/2022
Porcupette photo & video: 4/4/2022#porcupette #zooborns #MKEZoo pic.twitter.com/g0u9iEo5Bw
The mother, Quinn, is more prepared this time around after facing challenges with Bristle.
Quinn has been able to care for her new baby without any help from her zookeepers.
The baby is developing normally and is becoming more active and adventurous.
It weighed 466 grams, about one pound, at birth and now has grown to 708 grams (1.5 pound) when it last weighed at 11 days old.
Prehensile-tailed porcupines are known to be independent and can develop on their own outside of nursing.
These porcupines spend most of their time in trees and are nocturnal. They are named after their prehensile tails, which they use to hang from trees.
With human care, prehensile porcupines are known to live between 12 and 17 years.
