Photo: Julie Larsen Maher ©️ Bronx Zoo
An adorable addition has just debuted at New York’s Bronx Zoo.
In a release Friday, the Bronx Zoo announced that a Matschie’s tree kangaroo born at the zoo several months ago is starting to emerge from its mother’s pouch to make “its anticipated public debut.”
According to the Bronx Zoo, a tree kangaroo is about the size of a human thumbnail at birth. After entering the world, the newborn immediately crawls through its mother’s fur to enter her pouch. A majority of tree kangaroo’s physical development occurs in their mother’s pouch. After about seven months in the pouch, a tree kangaroo joey starts to emerge and peek out at the world.
Julie Larsen Maher ©️ Bronx Zoo
“This is an exciting birth for the Bronx Zoo and a unique opportunity for people to observe one of nature’s most intriguing evolutionary adaptations,” Jim Breheny, the Bronx Zoo Director, said in a statement. “At this stage of development, the joey will spend a lot of time in his mom’s pouch with just its head sticking out. As it matures, it will begin to explore its environment and start spending short periods of time outside the pouch.”
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)classifies the Matschie’s tree kangaroo, native to Papua New Guinea, as endangered. It is estimated that fewer than 2,500 remain in the wild.
The program works to match individual animals across AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums for breeding to “maintain genetic diversity and demographic stability in zoo populations.”
source: people.com
