Kids Free Month at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park will be extra special this year, after the birth of not one, but six endangered Grevy’s zebra foals—adding to San Diego Zoo Global’s ongoing effort to help preserve a population that is in steep decline.

For the first time in San Diego Zoo Global’s history, an echidna (ih-KID-na) baby—or puggle, as they are called—has hatched at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

In breeding programs aimed at conserving animals from small or isolated populations, scientists must balance the competing needs of adding genetic diversity and avoiding the introduction of harmful genes.