{"id":412427,"date":"2026-01-14T13:54:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/412427\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T13:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:54:20","slug":"canberras-first-cape-porcupine-just-got-a-boyfriend-and-its-love-at-first-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/412427\/","title":{"rendered":"Canberra’s first Cape porcupine just got a boyfriend \u2014 and it’s love at first sight"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The National Zoo\u2019s spiniest residents make a perfect pair, even if the new gentleman is a little shy. Photo: Will Tran.<\/p>\n

Romance has bloomed in the National Zoo and Aquarium\u2019s spikiest enclosure, as two very special porcupines settle into coupled life.<\/p>\n

This love story began late last year with the arrival of male Cape porcupine \u201dMwiba\u201d all the way from Auckland, New Zealand. He joined the zoo\u2019s female Cape porcupine, \u201dLouie\u201d, in early January, and zookeeper Jemma Walsh says it was love at first sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cLouie was really excited and ran right up to cuddle Mwiba. He was a bit shocked, but went, \u2018OK, this is happening, that\u2019s fine\u2019, and now they\u2019re practically inseparable,\u201d Jemma says.<\/p>\n

\u201cMwabi is a shy boy, but Louie is slowly bringing him out of his shell. They happily snuggle up and share a bed \u2014 though Louie still pulls rank during treat time to secure the tastiest morsels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cape porcupines are native to central and southern Africa, and are the largest members of the porcupine family.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re monogamous, which means they mate for life. Great news for these little lovers.<\/p>\n

At the zoo, Louie and Mwiba\u2019s diet consists of fruits and veggies. Their favourite mains include potato, pumpkin, cauliflower and squash \u2014 but carrots make great treats, as do peanuts, bananas, corn and rockmelon.<\/p>\n

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Mwiba is settling in nicely with Louie by his side. Photos: Will Tran.<\/p>\n

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Louie is pretty feisty, but zoo staff love her for it.<\/p>\n

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They’re quite the busy pair, most active at night and in the early morning.<\/p>\n

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There are no plans to breed them at this stage, but never say never!<\/p>\n

Contrary to popular belief, porcupines cannot shoot their quills. Instead, they\u2019ll puff up and back their quills into a threat \u2014 but only if freezing first doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

Being rodents, these two will try to eat just about anything, so keepers work hard to deliver enrichment items that are robust yet fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want something to last, it needs to be made of metal or very hard plastic,\u201d Jemma says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut things they can destroy are super fun. They love shredding cardboard boxes. Louie loved Christmas; she got lots of Christmas paper and spread it from one end of the yard to the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodent teeth continually grow, so Louie and Mwiba are regularly given cuttlefish cartilage and branches to strip the bark from. Jemma says plum branches are always a hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf our sun bears get coconuts with dinner, we\u2019ll also repurpose the husks for them to play with. They\u2019re surprisingly strong and will rip those husks to shreds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re both big fans of ice blocks as well, which was a funny little surprise for us all. Louie, in particular, loves taking one to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cape porcupines are classified as being of least concern in the wild. This is great news, but as with the vast majority of African species, their numbers are still in decline overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing to see Louie and Mwiba helps support conservation efforts for Cape porcupines as well as their bigger neighbours here at the zoo, including our cheetahs and tigers,\u201d Jemma says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis week is Porcupine Week, so we\u2019ll be running keeper talks every morning to show off the new couple and teach guests about their species. Come along if you want to see them up close and enjoying some tasty treats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Louie and Mwiba can be found on display in the National Zoo\u2019s walkthrough section, next to the Tammar wallabies and Moo the emu. Their habitat is also part of Jungle Bungalow 3 at Jamala Wildlife Lodge.<\/p>\n

Keen to see Louie and Mwiba in person? Visit the National Zoo and Aquarium<\/a> at 999 Lady Denman Drive, Yarralumla.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The National Zoo\u2019s spiniest residents make a perfect pair, even if the new gentleman is a little shy.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-412427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}