Sydney’s Taronga zoo sires first echidnas in 29 years; Billy rejoices

Being an echidna isn’t all it’s cracked up to be; we lead solitary lives, lay eggs and we have nightmarish four-headed penises covered in spines.

But reproduction that would make H.R. Giger blush aside, one must concede we are some of the cutest buggers.

.@tarongazoo is celebrating its first echidna birth in 29 years. #Echidna #7News pic.twitter.com/Izbv4JuQoT

— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) November 17, 2016

For the first time in 29 years, Sydney’s Taronga Zoo has successfully match-made a couple of echidnas who’ve given birth to three adorable echidlings. As a species, we’re notoriously stubborn when it comes to mating in captivity.

Imagine if someone put you behind several inches of plexiglass with a lady you’ve never met before and peers at you from behind their clipboard expecting the marsupial mamba to happen without even a thimble of XXXX Gold to part the waters. I don’t think so.

The creepy observed love-making paid off at least in the arrival of three ‘puggles’, whose sexes and names have yet to be determined. Might I suggest “Billy II” or, failing that, “Nicole Echidman”… Ok, ok, “Eartha Echid”

It’s a baby boom that’s been nearly 30 years in the making! We’re excited to announce the birth of three echidna puggles. This little guy is one of the tiny trio and has just begun to open its eyes and develop its characteristic spines in the safety and warmth of its nursery burrow.

A photo posted by Taronga Zoo (@tarongazoo) on Nov 17, 2016 at 10:54pm PST

“Ragnarok”.. now I’m just saying things

BtE