Prince George meets bilby namesake in royal visit to Taronga Zoo

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Eight-month-old George is given a stuffed animal and, like all smart babies, bites the card that comes with the gift. (David Gray / Associated Press)

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Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince George visit the bilby enclosure at Taronga Zoo in Sydney in April 2014. William and Kate were on their first official trip overseas with their son. (Chris Jackson / Getty Images)

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Prince William has a grip on an excited George, who seems to want to get hold of a bilby -- also called George -- at Taronga Zoo. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

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Prince William, with Prince George, had his first visit to Australia with his own parents around age 1. (Chris Jackson / Getty Images)

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The royal family gets a closer look at the Australian bilby. (David Gray / Associated Press)

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Feeding giraffes at Taronga Zoo. It’s all part of being a royal. (Chris Jackson / Getty Images)

By Christie D’Zurilla

April 21, 2014 7:09 PM PT

Baby George, meet bilby George!

As part of the duke and duchess of Cambridge’s ongoing royal visit to Australia, the wee prince and his parents got to meet George’s marsupial namesake during a visit to Sydney’s Taronga Zoo on Sunday.

Upon arrival at the enclosure, the excited boy was wriggling and squealing at the crowd and the rabbit-like animal, according to Clarence House.

With a little help from his folks, who helped him stand up near the low, clear-plastic fence around the critter’s pen, the 9-month-old was “trying to grab [the bilby’s] ear,” according to his mum, Catherine. Said dad Prince William, “If he gets it, he’ll never let go.”

The long-eared George actually started out named “Boy,” but the zoo made a special request to a national registry to have the animal’s name changed after the royal birth.

PHOTOS: Royals visit New Zealand and Australia

“It did take me quite a while to stop calling him ‘Boy George,’ ” bilby keeper Paul Davies said. When Davies moved to allow the tot to really pet the smaller George, Catherine stepped in to save the bilby from the baby.

“He’s got quite a strong grab actually,” she warned. (See the family and the bilby in the photo gallery above.)

Also over the weekend, comic actress Mindy Kaling offered commentary on the royal visit, noting Saturday that the former Kate Middleton was photographed in Brisbane, Australia, wearing the same blue-and-white LK Bennett dress Kaling had worn in the most recent episode of “The Mindy Project.”

PHOTOS: Kate Middleton through the years

While in Brisbane, the duke and duchess checked out fighter jets and planted a memorial tree at at the Royal Australian Air Force’s Amberley Air Base, giving ample exposure to the $425 garment.

“UHH, Miss Duchess Whoever, I WORE this dress last week!,” Kaling jokingly wrote on Instagram as a caption with side-by-side pictures of the two ladies. “What’s next? Kate in my donut print pajama bottoms I mean c’mon.”

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