SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The Potawatomi Zoo announced it is welcoming a new ambassador animal, Teddy the short-beaked echidna.

Zoo officials say Teddy was recently moved to Potawatomi from another Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited facility.

“It’s pretty exciting to have this incredibly unique species at the Zoo,” says Josh Sisk, executive director of the Potawatomi Zoo. “There are fewer than 15 accredited zoos in North America with echidnas, and we feel very lucky to be one of those zoos.”

Short-beaked echidnas are native to Australia and New Guinea and according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, their numbers have dwindled in the last few decades due to being struck by vehicles and predation by cats and dogs.

As an ambassador animal, Teddy is not in a publicly visible exhibit, zoo officials said.

They add that Teddy may be part of education classes and programs at the zoo or offsite.

Teddy may also be used in a breeding program in the future, since echidnas are so rare in zoos.

Echidnas are monotremes, which are mammals that lay eggs instead of living young. Zoo officials say mothers lay eggs into a small, backward-facing pouch, and when they hatch, their babies are called "puggles."