“Puggle” can mean one of two, extremely cute things; they’re either a cross-between a pug and a beagle, or a juvenile Monotreme, a basal mammal that lays eggs.
Today, we’re gifted with a species from the latter category, and, with all due respect to the noble, frankly impossible platypus, I’m pretty fucking stoked to say it’s the second type of Monotreme: a snuffling, idiot echidna.
I mean just look at this gorgeous, floppy dork:
Meet our new arrival. Did you know we’re a world leader in echidna breeding?! pic.twitter.com/JHfEZZaXQq
— Perth Zoo (@PerthZoo) February 8, 2017
Perth Zoo unveiled the 1.6kg Short-Beaked Echidna earlier today, which makes history as the second puggle, after its sibling Cojin, to be hatched from zoo-born parents.
Although the unnamed-echidna was born in September 2016, the zoo have had to wait until it was safe to show off the little guy or gal; echidnas take about 10 days to hatch, before living in a pouch for two months, growing spikes, and being transferred to a burrow for several months by good old Mum.
Echidnas also have internal reproductive organs, so the team will have to run a DNA-test to determine the little puggle’s gender.
According to zookeeper Katie Snushall, this makes for the tenth echidna to be born at Perth Zoo, which is especially impressive considering how difficult they are to breed in captivity:
“It will help with the long-beaked echidna found in Papua New Guinea because they’re an endangered species, so what we can learn here at Perth Zoo with their very closely related cousins will be very important.”
Give the zoos announcement video a squiz below, and remember that, despite everything we’ve done to it, Australia is still a goddamn beautiful country.
Tiny baby echidna born at Perth Zoo. World swoons. pic.twitter.com/GSBt0UyBJY
— ABC News 24 (@ABCNews24) February 8, 2017
Source: Perth Now.
Photo: ABC.
