--- title: Green Puppies Born in Spain description: A green puppy sounds like a super cute deal. canonical: https://time.com/2871430/these-puppies-were-born-with-green-fur/ author: Jack Linshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-13T19:02:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:46.092Z og:title: These Puppies Were Born With Green Fur og:description: The breeders are calling them their “Hulk pups” og:url: https://time.com/2871430/these-puppies-were-born-with-green-fur/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Puppies Were Born With Green Fur twitter:description: The breeders are calling them their “Hulk pups” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # These Puppies Were Born With Green Fur  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Jun 13, 2014 7:02 PM UTC  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Jun 13, 2014 7:02 PM UTC Two hunting dog breeders from Spain [joked](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/puppies-born-green-spain-article-1.1827441) that their two tiny, green critters were “Hulk pups”—at least until they realized what might be causing their Granny Smith colored coats. Daniel Valverde, a Spanish vet who is investigating the puppies’ fur, believes an exposure to biliverdin—a green bile pigment found in the placenta—may be to blame. That was the story behind [a different green puppy](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2215051/No-wonder-called-Hulk-Meet-Labrador-puppy-looks-bit-toxic-born-GREEN-coat.html) who was born in the U.K. in 2012. Though the pigmentation poses no known health risks, the two puppies were smaller and weaker than others in their litter. One died shortly after birth, which Valverde is also investigating. Luckily, the surviving green puppy won’t be green for much longer. The condition resolves itself within weeks, and his green hue has already begun to fade, [reported _The Local_](http://www.thelocal.es/20140611/green-puppies-shock-spanish-dog-breeder), an English-language European news site. > [](https://twitter.com/989THEDRIVE/status/477412654055960576) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2871430/these-puppies-were-born-with-green-fur/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2871430/these-puppies-were-born-with-green-fur/"},"headline":"These Puppies Were Born With Green Fur","datePublished":"2014-06-13T19:02:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:46.092Z","description":"The breeders are calling them their “Hulk pups”","url":"https://time.com/2871430/these-puppies-were-born-with-green-fur/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","Dogs","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2871430/these-puppies-were-born-with-green-fur/","name":"These Puppies Were Born With Green Fur"}}]}] ```