A pair of tiny Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby joey’s are starting to poke their head out of the pouch at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia.
Mother’s Mica and Ruby have both given birth at the zoo’s Platypus Pool’s exhibit providing a delight for keen-eyed visitors who catch a glimpse of the wallabies as they pokes their head’s from the pouch.
Mica’s joey is a female and keepers have estimated her age to be five months. It should be about a month before it is ready to come outside and explore the world around her on her own.
Keeper, Tony Britt-Lewis said, “She’s still quite shy, but we’re starting to see her little face more and more. Mica likes to find a nice spot to rest in the sun and the joey will often pop its head out to look around.”
It is currently unknown what the gender of Ruby’s joey is but she is healthy and strong according to her keepers.
“Mica and Ruby are both very experienced and attentive mothers, so they are showing all the right nurturing behaviours,” added Britt-Lewis.
Taronga Zoo works with the Office of Environment and Heritage co-ordinating a program that aims to recover these endangered wallabies. In the past they have been hunted for their meat and fur but even now that, that has stopped feral cats, foxes and habitat loss continue to decimate their population.
Previously Brush tailed rock wallabies could be found across most of the rocky country in south-eastern Australia but they now only exists in small pockets of their former range.
Taronga maintains a genetically diverse population of rock wallabies ready for reintroduction into the wild when their partner agencies are finished with managing the threats which they face in the wild and they can return there.
Photo Credits: Taronga Zoo/ Paul Fahy
