Baby Wallaby At San Jose Zoo Ready To Leave Mom's Pouch
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) – A new baby wallaby who was born late last year has just started poking its head out of its mother's pouch at their home inside the Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, officials with the zoo said Wednesday.
The joey, as baby wallabies are called, was smaller than a jellybean when born sometime in mid- or late-December and could still spend weeks in the pouch before first venturing out into the world.
"It will be another month or so before we see the little one hopping around on their own, but in the meantime we are seeing more of a very cute little head," Happy Hollow Zoo Manager Kevin Hertell said in a news release.
It's very difficult to tell exactly when a joey is born, since the entire event takes place out of sight in the mother's pouch.
The joey's gender is still unknown but it will be revealed during its annual spring examination.
This is the twenty-sixth Parma wallaby born since 1994 at San Jose's zoo, which participates in cooperative breading programs to keep the world's Macropus population healthy.
"Our baby wallabies have helped establish other populations at zoos around the world," Hertell said.
The kangaroo-like animals are the smallest of their genus Macropus and usually weigh 7 pounds to 12 pounds and stand about 18 inches to 20 inches.
Parma wallabies were thought extinct until a small population was found on a small New Zealand island in 1967, according to zoo officials.
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