London Zoo releases images of baby porcupine born in front of visitors

Welcome to our world sweet baby!!! 💐👏🥳

This is one of the cutest babies on the planet…! ❣️👵🎉❤️ So sweet …what a wonderful time for people to see the mother giving birth…💐👏🥳

A porcupine gave birth before a delighted audience at ZSL London Zoo last month.

Visitors were treated to an unexpected surprise when the mother, Hettie, le.ft her den to give birth to Hershey outside in front of an amazed audience.

Zookeeper Veronica Heldt said: It was totally up to Hettie where she gave birth, and this time – her second baby in seven months – she decided

to leave her cosy indoor dens and share the wonders of porcupine childbirth with excited visitors.

Fantastic so adorable and cute 🥰😊❤❤❤

Porcupine quills are soft at birth but harden shortly thereafter

Porcupines can live up to 20 years in cap.tiv.ity and form lifelong monogamous pairs, raising their young together. Hershey is a cape porcupine, which are native to central and southern Africa, and are solitary or found in small family groups.

They live on a diet largely composed of fruit and roots. They are the largest of all the porcupine species, weighing in at 15kg as an adult,

compared to a tiny 350g at birth – approximately the weight of a can of soda.
Litters can range from one to four, the average being two, with female porcupines able to give birth once or twice a year.

Well done mum such a cute baby ❤ That’s so beautiful and precious 💖💜

Zookeepers struggled to capture a photograph of the baby porcupine on its own

A great way to gain an audience…! Well done Hettie and thank you for sharing this little miracle.❤️❤️❤️

Congratulations to the London Zoo and the Mama Porcupine 🎉🎊 👏 💐 🥳 🎊 👵🎉
Bless them both ❤️🙏🙏🙏