How precious?
Zookeepers in a UK zoo have shared the “magical moment” that an endangered baby kangaroo emerged from its mother’s pouch for the very first time.
The baby dusky pademelon was born at Chester Zoo in Cheshire, in the UK and was as small as a jelly bean when it was born.
As kangaroos do, it had been growing inside of its mother’s pouch for the last six months, but it has finally made an appearance for zookeepers.
“Seeing the magical moment her new arrival took its first peek out of the pouch has brought us a huge amount of joy,” zookeeper Megan Carpenter told PA.
“When a dusky pademelon joey is first born it’s only about the size of a jelly bean and so it stays in the safety of mum’s pouch, where it receives all of the nourishment it needs to grow and develop.
“It was at the point that we noticed mum, Styx, was slowly gaining weight that we began to monitor her behaviour and feeding patterns extra closely, and we were hopeful that she was rearing a baby.”
She went on to add that it will be a few more weeks before the new baby will fully emerge and hop around, and this is when they will be able to determine its gender and give it a name.
This species comes from the native Australian term for “small kangaroos of the forest” as they only grow to be 2ft in height. They are nocturnal, so they typically rest during the day and hunt for food at night.
While they are endangered, it has not been widely reported as little is known about the species as they are only found in the forests of New Guinea and some smaller nearby islands in Indonesia.
The population of these furry creatures has declined by 30% in the last two decades, with only 56 of them living in European zoos.
