About a year after the National Zoo introduced a new man into the lives of its prehensile-tailed porcupines, he has fulfilled his fatherly destiny and bred with a female porcupine.

The result? An extremely cute—if slightly scraggly—porcupette. Perhaps its presence can help zoo-goers deal with the loss of a certain beloved panda.

The as-yet-unnamed infant porcupine was born to mother Beatrix in the Small Mammal House overnight between November 5 and 6, per the National Zoo. Beatrix bred with Quillbur, who was transferred to the National Zoo from upstate New York specifically for this purpose about a year ago.

In the weeks preceding her baby’s birth, Beatrix had been steadily gaining weight, which clued keepers in that she may soon go into labor, the zoo says. They found the porcupette on the morning of November 6 and performed a quick health exam, which found that the baby weighed less than a pound and was successfully nursing, according to the zoo. Prehensile-tailed porcupines are nocturnal animals, so Beatrix and porcupette spend most of their days nestled in their enclosure sleeping, and the baby nurses at night.

The new porcupette is Beatrix’s first baby, and the fourth generation of her family to live at the zoo, per a zoo press release.

Zookeepers say they don’t yet know the porcupette’s sex, as prehensile-tailed porcupines have internal sex organs; vets will test the DNA on one of the baby’s quills to figure it out.

Speaking of those quills: you might wonder how a mammal can safely give birth to something so prickly. Porcupettes are born with soft quills, which harden significantly in the minutes after birth. When the porcupette modeled for the photo above, it was three days old and already prickly enough to hurt.

Soon, zookeepers will begin training the porcupette, slowly desensitizing it to the presence of humans and rewarding it with food for stepping onto a scale or hitting a target with its nose, the zoo says in the release. Prehensile-tailed porcupines can generally be trained very well—the zoo even trained this porcupette’s grandmother, Bess, to submit to ultrasounds during her pregnancies.

Visitors can already see the new porcupette, along with mom Beatrix and dad Quillbur, in an exhibit in the Small Mammal House.

Previously:
The National Zoo Has A New Porcupine Daddy
Bao Who? Look At This Adorable New Porcupette Instead