ZooBorns

Wallaby Joeys Galore for Linton Zoo!

Linton Zoo's Parma Wallaby females are pouch full of Wallaby joeys! The troupe was introduced to a new male last year and they have been breeding with much success! By the end of the 1800s the Parma wallaby was declared extinct. It was not until 1965 that a small surviving population was found on Kawau Island (near Auckland). Another wild population was later found in Gosford, New South Wales in 1967. It is from these few animals that the entire current population of Parma Wallabies descends.

Below is a shot of one of the joeys in Mom's pouch when it is still hairless and too small to peek out!

Trinka the Wallaby Thrives After a Rocky Start

Trinka, an endangered Parma Wallaby joey, is being hand raised at the San Diego Zoo nursery. Her name is an Australian aboriginal word for daytime. She's small but strong, and her keepers describe her as sweet and expressive. She was found on the ground outside her mother's pouch when she was very small and had to be hand raised at the San Diego Zoo nursery. She was given a faux "pouch" to snuggle into and she comes out of it for a little exercise during the day. Feeding small babies like Trinka can be difficult, but the San Diego Zoo keepers are experts, and Trinka is doing great finishing off her four bottles a day.

Photo credits: Ken Bohn, San Diego

Baby Tree 'Roo Is Popping out of the Pouch

Woodland Park Zoo's Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo joey is growing up fast, so here are some new photos and video to fill you in on how it is getting along in its behind-the-scenes exhibit. Now eight months old, the joey has begun to leave its mother’s pouch for short bursts, doing a little exploring and then retreating back to the pouch for naps. Keepers do not know the sex of the joey yet so for now he or she remains nameless. The joey is mostly eating leaves but also munches on greens including kale, romaine and celery. Mother "Elanna" is not so great at sharing, so the joey has learned to go after the food it wants for itself.

Follow Matschie's progress and other Woodland Park Zoo babies on their outstanding blog.

Photo credits (from top): Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo, Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo, Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo

Video credits: Footage from keepercam, produced by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo

Elanna and joey are in a behind the scenes exhibit to give them the quiet and comfort this sensitive species requires, especially since Elanna is a first time mother. The Woodland Park Zoo is using cameras and students are assisting with observations so they can study the interactions between the mother and joey and keep a close eye on their progress.

Happy Outcome For Wallaby Joey

The good people at Zoo Budapest have been hand-rearing a male tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) that they have aptly named Frodo Baggins. Unfortunately he fell out from his mother’s pouch on March 13, 2011, when he was just five months old, and it was impossible to put him back into the pouch.

Normally a newborn kangaroo -- or joey, as they are called -- is born after a gestation period of just 39 days. The joey’s hind limbs are not yet developed enough at this stage, but its forelimbs are. This allows it to crawl into its mother’s pouch to nurse and continue to develop.

Today Frodo is nine months old and the hand-rearing process is almost completed. During the daytime, he lives in the outdoor enclosure together with the other members of the tammar mob, but durning the night he sleeps yet in an artificial pouch -- the textile bag you see here. He can now eat solid food, but he is still being fed milk four times per a day.

Photo Credit: Zoo Budapest

Can You Guess What This Image Is? No Scrolling!

If you guessed a baby Kangaroo, you were right! Woodland Park Zoo's six-month-old Tree Kangaroo joey is showing its face a bit more these days, if only in quick peeks. A Tree Kangaroo joey will typically remain in its mother’s pouch for about 10 months. Once out, it’ll continue to return to its mother’s pouch until it is fully weaned, usually at around 13 months. Tree ‘roo mom Elanna is taking good care of the joey and the two are doing well in a quiet, behind-the-scenes exhibit at the zoo.

Woodland Park Zoo is home to the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program that is working to protect the endangered tree kangaroo and help maintain the unique biodiversity of its native Papua New Guinea in balance with the culture and needs of human communities.

Photo credits: Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo

If you’d like to help conserve tree kangaroos, you can go to www.zoo.org/treekangaroo/give, or use your cell phone to donate $5 to the program today by texting ROOS to 20222. Messaging & Data Rates May Apply. All gifts will be doubled by a generous $1 million match from Conservation International until June 30, 2011. For more info visit www.zoo.org/treekangaroo.

A Near Perfect Pouch for a Tiny Wallaby Baby

Four-hourly-feeds are the norm for keeper Alex Pinnell who has taken charge of an orphaned Wallaby joey at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. The tiny Wallaby named Pip was abandoned by her mother and so is being hand-reared by Alex, who is using her rucksack as a makeshift pouch for the little marsupial.

Photo credits: ZSL Whipsnade Zoo

Alex, 29, who works on the farm section and with the sealions, keeps Pip with her during the day at all times, just as her real mum might do and also has to make sure she is fed – every four hours. The seven-month-old joey will be looked after by Alex for the next few months. After that, she will live on the zoo’s Children’s Farm, where visitors will be able to see her hopping around with the other free roamers.
 
For the next few months though, mum’s the word for Alex who is getting used to her new charge:

“She is adorable but exhausting! Luckily she is starting to sleep through at night now and is very good at taking her bottle!”

Alex can also looking forward to her first Mother’s Day at the zoo as surrogate mum to little Pip.

"Joey" to the World!

Photo credits: Ray Meibaum/Saint Louis Zoo

A little Zoo present has popped up just in time to give a pounce of holiday cheer! “Nokopo” (pronounced NOH-koh-poh), a female Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo joey, has begun poking her head out from within her mother’s pouch at their habitat in Emerson Children’s Zoo at the Saint Louis Zoo. Six months ago Nokopo, nicknamed Noko, was born the size of a lima bean. She immediately moved into her mother’s pouch to be nurtured and developed, and has since grown to be the size of a small cat. She is named after a village in Papua New Guinea.

Raising a Little Wallaby

Meet the Cincinnati Zoo's newest little Parma Wallaby joey. This species of wallaby is the smallest in the genus Macropus, which includes all kangaroos, wallaroos and some wallabies. Extremely shy in the wild, Parma Wallabies were thought to be extinct until the mid 1960s, when a small hidden population was discovered in the swampy forests of Kawau Island off the coast of New Zealand.

Living in the nursery for now, this baby wallaby will eventually become an outreach animal at the zoo.

A Good Little Fellow...

Meet the Melbourne Zoo's newest Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo joey. While the baby is actually six months old, the little marsupial is just now starting to poke its head out of mom's pouch so these are some of the first glimpses for keepers and the public! Believe it or not, people actually hunt this rare kangaroo for food in its native home of Indonesia. Combined with habitat destruction, the animal's status is soon to be downgraded from endangered to critically endangered by the IUCN. These outstanding photos were taken by photographer Angelica Jellibat.

More photos and info below the fold...

Endangered Tree Kangaroo Emerges from Her Pouch

Meet the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo's newest and cutest little Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo joey. Unlike their Australian ground dwelling cousins, Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroos live in New Guinea and spend most of their lives high in the trees. They have an amazing ability to jump from trees, having been observed leaping down to the ground from 30 feet or more on a whim. Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroos are endangered due to poaching and habitat destruction.

Photo and video credits: Cleveland Metroparks Zoo