ATASCADERO – It was a surprise delivery for the Charles Paddock Zoo in Atascadero.
Zoo keepers showed up to work last Tuesday to find a baby porcupine.
They tell Your Central Coast News, they had no idea the baby's mother was pregnant, and this is an unusual time of the year for one to give birth.
It's a Prehensile Tail Porcupine, originally from South America. It spends most of its life high up in the trees.
"When the baby is born, he's red and has fur rather than quills like his parents, that's so he can be born safely," said Charles Paddock Zoo Director Alan Baker.
Zoo keepers don't yet know if the little creature is a boy or a girl.
The baby porcupine is hanging out with its parents and is already on display.
