Lincoln Children’s Zoo on Wednesday announced the birth of a new resident. The Matschie’s tree kangaroo joey was born around May 3. It is one of only four born this year in zoos accredited by the Association for Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
“Thirty-three percent of North America’s Matschie’s tree kangaroos are descended from our Lincoln Children’s Zoo breeding program. This is an incredible accomplishment and important for animal conservation efforts considering the continued decrease of the tree kangaroo population in the wild,” says Evan Killeen, Lincoln Children’s Zoo CEO. “Our Zoo team provides top-notch care to our animals and have taken great care of Judie and her joey.”
Zoo officials say it’s too early to determine the sex of the joey and a name will be chosen at a later time. The joey is currently around 27 weeks old. When Matschie’s tree kangaroos are born, they are the size of a lima bean. They blindly crawl into mom’s pouch where they nurse and continue to develop and grow.
They start to open their eyes around 21 weeks and a few weeks after that they will start poking their head out of the pouch. At 28 weeks old they will start to come out of the pouch and explore. At 40 weeks they will no longer be in the pouch, but will still stick their heads in to nurse.
Judie and her joey are currently on exhibit. However the joey still spends most of its time in its mother’s pouch so guests may not be able to see it during their visit. Guests will be able to see the joey more often in the next few months.