"It's so ugly-cute!": Taronga Zoo unveils new baby puggle
The animal kingdom has been left on the edge of its collective seat after the unveiling of a short-beaked Echidna puggle at Sydney's Taronga Zoo. And if you thought that was the most thrilling part of the story, you clearly don't know what goes on in the secret lives of these "widespread yet elusive" mammals.
You see, it turns out that Echidnas are so elusive that they're even stealthy during their birthing process. Female short-beaked Echidna mother, Ganyi, incubated the egg for a whole 10 days. That's right, a solid 10 days of parenting dedication before the puggle even saw the light of day! And to top it off, the puggle was then carefully carried within a false echidna pouch. I bet you didn't even know echidnas had those, did you? (No judgement – we didn't either.)
But wait, there's more: The 83-day-old puggle (which, by the way, sounds like an appropriate combination of "pudgy" and "cuddle") weighs in at a whopping 803 grams. It's safe to say that this little one didn't skip any meals in the womb, and those extra grams will come in handy when it's time to tackle the tough world of being an echidna.
Now, here's where things get really interesting: The Taronga zookeepers are monitoring this puggle like it's a presidential election. They're collating daily weights, tracking feeding routines and recording critical data from 24-hour CCTV monitoring of the mother's movements. It's like Echidna Big Brother, and Ganyi is the star of the show.
Rebecca Russell-Cook, who holds the prestigious title of "Backyard to Bush senior keeper," at Taronga is leading the charge. In a candid interview, she revealed the shocking truth: "The puggle is developing and quickly putting on weight, and Ganyi is feeding the puggle every 2-6 days."
But let's not forget the grand finale of this epic saga. According to Russell-Cook, "Every echidna breeding season and resulting birth is invaluable for how much we are able to increase our knowledge around these incredibly mysterious mammals."
The reaction to the unveiling of the little puggle has been predictably awestruck, with one commenter collapsing into fits of giggles before crying out "OMG it's so ugly-cute!".... which is amazingly spot-on.
It seems the secret world of short-beaked Echidnas is filled with drama, intrigue and a good deal of weight monitoring. Who knew that these mysterious creatures had so much going on behind those cute, spiky exteriors?
Images: Taronga Zoo