A delayed flight can give even the most relaxed traveller a prickly disposition, so when Natureland's latest guest was kept waiting for nearly an hour longer than expected on Thursday, staff at the zoo were understandably worried.
Akoko, a three-year-old female African crested porcupine, was travelling from Orana Wildlife Park to her new home in the converted otter enclosure at Natureland.
She flew with Orana Park keeper Aaron Gilmore, who said considering she had been in a crate since 6.45am, Akoko had handled the travel well.
Natureland operations manager Gail Sutton said staff were excited about the transfer.
The death of the zoo's otters earlier this year had left "a significant hole", she said.
Their old enclosure had been converted to suit the unique challenges of keeping a porcupine.
They are nocturnal creatures, so a daytime cave area had been built to give them a dark spot to sleep during the day, she said.
While Akoko was expected to spend most of her first few weeks at the park in her cave, it was hoped she would start coming out into the enclosure so visitors could see her.
Viewing windows in the cave would be used in the meantime, she said.
Mr Gilmore said porcupines were notorious escape artists.
When left alone at night, they were like an "earth-moving machine", building bridges over their enclosure walls with bark from the ground, he said.
"They're just charging every night."
The move was a partnership between Natureland and Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park.
Orana Park would breed more of the animals, and Natureland would look after newly-bred porcupines until they were at breeding age, when they would be transferred back down to Christchurch.
