Birth of baby porcupine Hershey excites ZSL London Zoo crowds

A baby porcupine, known as a porcupette, has been born in front of excited visitors at ZSL London Zoo.

The mother, Hettie, left her den to give birth to Hershey outside, where visitors could see the baby emerge.

The porcupette weighs just 350g (12oz), about the same as a can of fizzy pop.

Zookeeper Veronica Heldt said Hettie gave birth to her last porcupette, Herbie, seven months ago inside her den but had decided to introduce Hershey to the world more quickly.

"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 our excited visitors," she said.

"We answered a lot of not-so-subtle questions about porcupine quills - they're soft at birth, before quickly hardening, so Hettie's labour was not as painful as some watching mothers were imagining."

Zookeepers have given all of Hershey's family names beginning with the letter H.

They will discover the sex of the youngster, who was born on 25 March, after its first health check when one of its quills will be sent for DNA testing.

Ms Heldt added the family of four, including the father Henning, had been "doting" on the new arrival.

Porcupines can live up to 20 years in captivity and form lifelong monogamous pairs, raising their young together.

Hershey is a cape porcupine, which is the largest of all the porcupine species, weighing in at 15kg (26lb) as an adult, about as much as a microwave.

They are native to central and southern Africa and mostly eat fruit and roots.

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