A rare tree kangaroo has welcomed a joey at Chester Zoo
(Picture: Chester Zoo)For the first time in Chester Zoo’s 91-year history, one of their tree kangaroos, Kitawa, has welcomed a joey.
Goodfellow’s tree kangaroos, also known as ornate tree kangaroos, are long-tailed mammals that originate from the mountainous rainforests of Papua New Guinea. They live in the treetops and feed on plants.
The species is listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and has lost more than half of its population in the past 30 years. Two major factors for this have been people hunting them for meat, and the tree kangaroos’ habitat being destroyed to make way for coffee and rice plantations.
So, the new joey is a major cause for celebration for nature lovers and the Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo conservation breeding programme.
David White, a team manager at Chester Zoo, explained how much effort goes into birthing and raising a tree kangaroo joey, saying: “This is a real celebratory moment for the team and our efforts to protect this highly endangered species. With little being known about these shy and elusive creatures, we’re in a unique position to be able to capture and document the whole process around the development of Kitawa’s joey.
ADORABLE TREE KANGAROO JOEY BORN FOR THE FIRST TIME 🦘
— Chester Zoo (@chesterzoo) January 25, 2023
Proud mum Kitawa has successfully delivered her tiny baby ❤️
Experts here at the zoo were able to carefully capture the joey's early stages using an endoscope camera 🎥 pic.twitter.com/zrwn83uIFs
“Tree kangaroos have one of the most complex birthing processes in the animal kingdom. When a joey is first born, it’s only the size of a jellybean and is incredibly underdeveloped. Moments after the birth, with eyes still tightly closed, the joey knows to instinctively crawl up mum’s belly and into her pouch – following a channel which she has marked out by licking her fur. Once safely in the pouch, the baby receives all of the nutrition it needs while it grows and develops for a further six months – up until it starts to pop its head out.
As for when Chester Zoo visitors can expect to see more of the new addition, Mr White shared: “The new baby will soon emerge from the pouch fully and begin hopping around and learning to climb trees, under the watchful eye of mum. That’s when we’ll be able to determine if it’s male or female and give the youngster a fitting name.”
2023 has been a great year for Chester Zoo thus far, as they also recently welcomed a critically endangered western chimpanzee dubbed to be the “world’s rarest chimpanzee”.
