It was an exhilarating experience for everyone.

Percy, a giant porcupine puppet, emerged from her stump to welcome schoolchildren and journalists at a Los Angeles park Tuesday.

As she opened her mouth to reveal her buck teeth, the adorable beast elicited a lot of awwws and oohs. With a nose as big as a Volkswagen, she stood almost two stories tall.

Percy, a joint project between the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance) and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop was released to celebrate the opening of the Wildlife Explorers Basecamp next week.

The puppet was created six months ago after extensive planning. It is based on the South American prehensile-tailed porcupine. It measures nearly 40 feet in circumference (12 meters) and contains 2,000 foam quills. To paint stripes, it required a house-worth painting.

Peter Brooke, creative supervisor at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, stated that while we have done some larger fantasy creatures, it is the largest duplication of an animal that we have ever done.

In this instance, the prehensile tail that gives tree-dwelling fruit-eating species its nickname is only a figment of our imagination. Only the front half of the log is visible and peeks out. The rest appears to be safe inside the log.

Brooke stated that the inflatable is essentially based on an inflatable, with mechanical eyes and a jaw.

Elysian Park was home to a real prehensile-tailed porcupine. After the children brought out lots of bananas to lure the porcupine, she “lost” herself before she emerged in her puppet form.

Jennifer Popagain, a Basecamp performer, said that she believes she is getting closer to the right thing and brought out a giant banana.

They counted down and then approached Percy when she was free.

Percy will continue her journey down the coast towards her permanent home at San Diego Zoo after another media stop.

The Wildlife Explorers Basecamp, a 3.2-acre area within the Zoo, is designed to teach families about interdependence between humans, animals, and plants.

There will be a tortoise and an ocelot as well as a caiman and an anteater, also known by the tamandua name, and a prehensile tail porcupine.