Rico the porcupine showing off his impressive prehensil tail. Their muscular tail is nearly as long as their body and essentially acts as a fifth limb. | Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

21K views · 1.7K reactions | ❤️璉 Prehensile-tailed porcupines, like our 2-week-old porcupette, are born with the ability to climb! At birth, their quills are soft, but they harden within minutes. The name prehensile means “capable of grasping”; the underside of its tail lacks quills, allowing the porcupine to grip branches with this appendage and navigate the forest canopy with ease. | Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute | Facebook

Rico the Brazilian prehensile-tailed porcupine. Large curved claws, bare soles, and a prehensile tail make these porcupines excellent climbers. Their muscular tail is nearly as long as their body and essentially acts as a fifth limb. | Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

Porcupine nurses her baby! A porcupette or baby porcupine, born this year at the Emperor Valley Zoo, is seen nursing from its mother. A female Prehensile-tailed porcupine, usually gives birth to a single offspring at a time. She will suckle her young for about 3 months. The baby is then slowly introduced to solid foods. This porcupette has already begun foraging for food but will still sometimes nurse from mom. It will grow to adult size in less than a year and will reach sexual maturity in less