Photo: Franklin Park Zoo
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — This is a special time of year at Franklin Park Zoo. Every spring, staff wait in anticipation to see how many new prairie dog pups they'll welcome.
"Last year we had one. So that was surprising. And there have been other years where we had 20, I think," said John Linehan, president and CEO of Zoo New England.
The baby boom they were waiting for finally arrived in April — 12 prairie dog pups — for now.
"We actually won't know how many babies we've had this year until well into May," said Linehan.
Their furry faces slowly emerged from their burrows to explore the world above after being underground for six weeks.
The tiny pups are born blind and hairless, Linehan said.
"They dig their own holes. They won't use our artificial holes. We can't put cameras down there. So we count them as they come out. It's little marks on the fur where we did their physical. We mark them so we know we got that one already."
Franklin Park Zoo visitors can look forward to finding out the final count of the pups in a few weeks.
WBZ NewsRadio's Kyle Bray (@KyleBrayWBZ) has more.