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PHOTOS: The Bronx Zoo Has An Adorable New Baby Porcupine

By Eddie Small | June 9, 2016 12:06pm
 The Bronx Zoo has a new baby porcupine.
Baby Porcupine at Bronx Zoo
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The Bronx Zoo just got a brand new baby porcupine.

The male North American porcupine was born at the zoo on April 24 and is now on display with its family at the newly renovated Children's Zoo, although he does not have a name yet. This is the fourth offspring for its parents Alice and Patrick.

Porcupines' famous quills are very soft at birth but start to harden a few hours later and continue to do so as the creatures grow.

Porcupines can have as many as 30,000 quills but cannot shoot them. The quills of North American porcupines have small barbs on the tip that pull them out of the porcupine and imbed them in predators.

Baby porcupines can start eating solid food when they are just 3 weeks old but continue to nurse for about three months.