There are three spiky new residents at the Nashville Zoo.
One of the facility’s cape porcupines, Mkali, gave birth to her second litter of porcupettes last week.
The zoo made the announcement on World Porcupine Day, July 2. A release says they all got a clean bill of health from the veterinarian. At their check-up, they all weighed less than a single pound.
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After a few weeks with their parents, the porcupettes will be raised by hand to get them more accustomed to human interaction. They’ll then begin training to be animal ambassadors to educate the public.
Cape porcupines are native to Central and Southern Africa and are not an endangered species. The Nashville Zoo participates in a program to ensure the genetic diversity of captive cape porcupines.
For now, the baby porcupines will stay behind the scenes, but the zoo says it hopes to take them on walks through the zoo one day.
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