Spotlight on Vet Medicine: A Good Look at a Baby Prehensile-tailed Porcupine
The Small Mammal House welcomed the birth of a prehensile-tailed porcupine on April 11, 2005. This is the first offspring for its parents. By June 2008, the parents had produced four offspring.
While the adults have yellowish and dark spines, the baby is covered in coarse red hair. As it grows to adult size over the next year, it will gradually lose the red hair and grow stiff, sharp spines, which are modified hairs.
The baby nursed for a few minutes just a few times a night because its mother's milk is so nutritious (these animals are nocturnal). It weaned itself at ten weeks, but could eat solids as early as two weeks. It now looks like a smaller version of its parents. These photos show what it looked like soon after it was born.
Keepers and a veterinarian examined the baby when it was a day old. It weighed just 340 grams (12 ounces) and was given a clean bill of health. It is being weighed every day. By its tenth day, it had grown by more than a third, weighing in at 470 grams (16 ounces). By June 4, the baby was four times its birth weght: 1.4 kg (3 pounds). Adults can weigh up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds).
After four weeks, Zoo scientists used an innovative method to determine the sex of the baby. They analyzed DNA extracted from a quill and learned that it's a girl!
When the porcupine was born, she already had tiny quills, but they were wet and soft. By the time of her exam, the quills had dried, and were sharp enough to be left behind in the veterinarian's protective glove. When threatened, porcupines rattle their quills to frighten off predators. Although quills cannot shoot out, they do come out easily to embed themselves in an attacker.
Here is the baby with her father, who will not be involved in caring for the young. The gestation for these South American animals is more than 200 days, a long pregnancy for a rodent. These porcupines usually have just one offspring at a time. Twins are rare.
The baby's curled prehensile tail is visible here. It functions as a fifth limb, able to grasp branches and allowing greater stability for climbing. Prehensile-tailed porcupines spend nearly their whole lives in trees. Some skinks, snakes, silky anteaters, and many New World monkeys have prehensile tails.
The parents and their baby are on exhibit at the Small Mammal House.
