It’s a Girl! Disney World welcomes a baby porcupine

Disney’s animal care team at Animal Kingdom is watching over a baby prehensile-tailed porcupine born late last month.

Even though the Walt Disney World Resort is temporarily closed due to the coronavirus, cast members are providing care to the thousands of animals located in Disney World.

The baby was born to mom, Peri, on Feb. 25. If you’ve seen the One Day at Disney documentary on Disney+, you may remember seeing Peri participate in an ultrasound with Disney veterinarian Dr. Natalie.

Known as a porcupette, the baby is covered in a fine red fur coat, but they’re also born with their tiny quills underneath, which begin to harden hours after birth. Prehensile-tailed porcupines have internal sex organs, so to determine the baby’s gender, a DNA test is used on the quills to determine the baby’s gender.

Now, the baby just needs a name.