{"id":408008,"date":"2026-07-22T14:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T14:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/408008\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T14:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T14:46:12","slug":"double-puggles-see-the-adorable-twin-echidnas-born-at-the-san-diego-zoo-safari-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/408008\/","title":{"rendered":"Double Puggles: See the Adorable ‘Twin’ Echidnas Born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

The two babies hatched earlier this year to one mother during the same breeding season\u2014an extremely rare occurrence, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance<\/p>\n

\"Sarah<\/p>\n

\n

Sarah Kuta<\/a><\/p>\n

| Daily Correspondent<\/p>\n

July 22, 2026 10:00 a.m.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

When they hatch, echidna puggles are about the size of a jellybean and weigh half as much as a mini marshmallow.
\n San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance<\/p>\n

Conservationists are celebrating echidna \u201ctwins\u201d born in San Diego. Known as puggles, the babies hatched earlier this year to one mother during the same breeding season\u2014an extremely rare occurrence, according to the\u00a0San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Echidnas are egg-laying mammals, or monotremes, that live on the continent of Australia and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. Sometimes called \u201cspiny anteaters,\u201d they are covered in beige-and-black spines that help them blend in with their surroundings.<\/p>\n

Did you know? Monotremes<\/p>\n

Scientists know of just five living egg-laying mammals, or monotremes: four echidna species and the\u00a0platypus<\/a>, which has only one species.<\/p>\n

Echidnas have small eyes and poor vision, but they make up for it with keen senses of smell and hearing<\/a>. The creatures have long, rubbery snouts called beaks, which they use to sniff out termites, earthworms, ants and other tasty critters. Their stubby but powerful legs and sharp claws also make them excellent diggers, allowing them to burrow into the ground<\/a> and quickly disappear from approaching predators.<\/p>\n

During the breeding season, a female typically lays just one egg\u2014a small, leathery orb about the size of a grape. She incubates the egg in a deep pouch on her belly for about ten days, until a bald, jellybean-size puggle<\/a> that weighs about half as much as a mini marshmallow emerges.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Echidna mothers typically raise their young in underground burrows.<\/p>\n

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike a marsupial pouch, an echidna has a temporary \u2018pseudo-pouch\u2019 that is only present when they are incubating an egg and raising a puggle,\u201d Jennifer LeBeau<\/a>, lead wildlife care specialist for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, tells\u00a0Popular Science<\/a>\u2019s Margherita Bassi.<\/p>\n

Puggles typically stay in their mothers\u2019 pouches for roughly two months, lapping up milk secreted from special glands. Once the baby outgrows its mother\u2019s pouch, she places the youngster inside an underground nursery burrow that she previously prepared and covers the entrance with dirt. She returns every few days to feed the puggle, digging out and then re-covering the entrance each time.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Veterinarians are using ultrasound images to see how quickly the hand-raised puggle digests formula, which can help them tailor its feeding schedule so that it continues gaining weight.<\/p>\n

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance<\/p>\n

Eventually, she stops backfilling the burrow\u2014a signal to the puggle that it\u2019s time to head outside and start exploring. Puggles continue nursing once they leave their burrows, but they also start to incorporate other foods, like insects, into their diet.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, caretakers at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park were surprised to find two puggles in the pouch of a short-beaked echidna named Kathryn. She\u2019s raising one of the puggles in a burrow as expected. But when the other baby\u2019s weight plateaued, veterinarians at the zoo\u2019s Harter Veterinary Medical Center decided to hand-raise it.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

The hand-raised puggle is receiving around-the-clock care.<\/p>\n

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance<\/p>\n

That puggle is enjoying lots of care and attention, including check-ins by veterinarians once a day and wildlife care specialists at least twice a day. \u201cHand-rearing puggles from this age tends to have a lower success rate, so we will continue to closely monitor and intervene as needed should any further challenges arise,\u201d Anthony Cerreta<\/a>, a clinical veterinarian with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, tells\u00a0Popular Science.<\/p>\n

Recently, veterinarians began using ultrasound to monitor the hand-raised puggle\u2019s stomach, an \u201cunexpected breakthrough,\u201d according to the zoo. The images revealed how quickly the youngster was digesting its formula, helping the team fine-tune its feeding schedule.<\/p>\n

Rare echidna twins born in San Diego<\/p>\n

\"Rare<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re unlike any other species,\u201d according to the zoo. \u201cThe more we know about them, the better we\u2019re able to save, protect and care for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Short-beaked echidnas<\/a>\u00a0are considered a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which guides global conservation measures. However, their long-beaked cousins are facing mounting threats to their survival.\u00a0Attenborough\u2019s long-beaked<\/a>\u00a0echidna, named after famed British broadcaster and naturalist David Attenborough<\/a>, and the\u00a0western long-beaked echidna<\/a>\u00a0are both listed as critically endangered. The\u00a0eastern long-beaked echidna<\/a>, meanwhile, is vulnerable.<\/p>\n

Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The two babies hatched earlier this year to one mother during the same breeding season\u2014an extremely rare occurrence,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-408008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}