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Niabi Zoo Welcomes a Porcupette

parent and baby African Cape Porcupine at the Niabi Zoo
Niabi Zoo
parent and baby African Cape Porcupine at the Niabi Zoo

The Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley is celebrating the birth of a "porcupette," a baby African Cape Porcupine. The baby was born January 7th, and the parents are an 11 year old male named Charles and a 4 year old female Milele.

African Cape Porcupines are native to dry woodland areas of South Africa. And this is the first time they've been bred at Niabi.

Zoo Director Lee Jackson says the zoo is part of a cooperative breeding program involving more than 100 zoos and more than 500 animals.

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.