Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by Meghan Sawyer, Communications Photos by Amanda Dukart, Animal Keeper Hello joey! Poppy's wallaby baby is popping out to see the world!  We are jumping for joey! Two adorable joeys, born last fall, are just starting to venture into the world and out of their mamas’ pouches. Wallaroo mom Tinga gave birth to a joey last November, and wallaby mom Poppy gave birth to her joey last September. The sex of each of the joeys is not confirmed yet. Each joey—the name of a baby kangaroo, wallaroo or wallaby—starts as a tiny blind and hairless newborn, only about the size of a lima bean! Even without sight to navigate, these babies must crawl their way up into their mother’s pouch where they will be able to stay safe and warm in the pouch while growing and getting all the nutrients they need from mom Wallaroo Tinga comes into her indoor area to enjoy a snack, while her joey peeks out.  At around 5 or 6 months old, the joey starts peeking their head out of the...

Posted by: Alissa Wolken, Communications Photos by: John Loughlin/Woodland Park Zoo The tools of the trade for hand raising a wallaroo joey: 1. A heavy duty pillowcase-like pouch for sleepy time 2. A handmade bottle adapter equipped with customized parts all the way from Australia for feedings 3. A kangaroo plush so the baby can redirect his playful bites and kicks at something other than one of us! 4. A lot of patience, a lot of compassion, and a sharp focus on letting a wallaroo be a wallaroo When it became apparent at six-and-a-half months of age that wallaroo joey, Yuri, wasn’t receiving from his mother the nutrition he needed to grow, we were ready to step in. But just as importantly when hand raising an animal, we’ve been getting ready to step back out. For Yuri, first it took a village, but now it takes a (wallaroo) mob. The first days of hand raising Upon the first signs that intervention was needed, Yuri was taken to the zoo’s Animal Health Complex wh...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications This is a tale of two joeys: A 7-month-old wallaby who is just emerging from its mother’s pouch… Wallaby joey peeks out of the pouch. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. …and a nearly 4-month-old wallaroo who is giving us a whole new perspective on what goes on inside the pouch. What we've seen will amaze you.  Let’s take a closer look at the developmental stages of the two joeys.  Wallaby Joey Emerges A hand, an ear, a nose—for the last few months, we have kept a close eye out for any sign of the latest wallaby joey emerging from its mother’s pouch. Born the size of a lima bean back in October, our newest wallaby joey has finally begun to peek out! Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. You can see it still has quite a bit of developing left to do. Soon the joey will grow in a furry coat and spend more time peeking out. As we head into summer, we’ll see the baby eventually begin to take...

Posted by: Wendy Gardner, Zookeeper Photos by Wendy Gardner/Woodland Park Zoo Who weighs nearly 100 pounds, belongs to a family of mammals (Macropodidae) whose name means “big feet,” has a long, muscular tail that helps with balance, turning and support while resting, and cannot walk backwards? Harry gets a food reward for cooperating with his treatment. That would be Harry, our male wallaroo who lives in the zoo’s Australasia zone. Harry came to Woodland Park Zoo in October 2008 as 2.5-year-old sub-adult, a term we use to describe juveniles that have not yet reached sexual maturity. In December of 2008 he weighed about 62 lb (28 kg), but as of June 2013, the now adult wallaroo weighs just shy of 100 lb (44 kg). That’s a good weight for him, but that size and strength means we do not want to have to hand catch him if he were to ever need medical attention, both for our own safety and to prevent stress for him. We decided using operant conditioning to get Harry not o...

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications What’s better than one joey? Two joeys! No, not those Joeys. We’re talking baby marsupials! We’re excited to have had two little joeys born at our Australasia exhibit . Our 5-month-old, red-necked wallaby joey is just starting to peek out of its mother’s pouch, and our newborn wallaroo joey has not been seen yet but will start to emerge in June or July. Wallaby joey in its mother’s pouch. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. This is especially exciting news for us as it marks the first wallaby joey born at Woodland Park Zoo, part of our work with the Association of Zoos & Aquariums’ collaborative Species Survival Plan breeding program. If you come by to look for the wallaby joey, you’ll want to have a bit of patience and a little luck on your side. You’ll be looking for the joey in the pouch of 3-year-old, first time mom Kiley. You can tell her apart by the orange tag on the front of her right ear. You can ide...

Posted by: Ric Brewer, Communications That’s not an alien poking a snaky arm out of wallaroo Fergie’s pouch, but the naked tail of her young joey. Young wallaroos, a type of small kangaroo from Australia, are born weighing less than a gram and roughly the size of a bean. The blind, hairless babies make the long trek after birth into the mother’s pouch where they suckle and develop over several months. Fergie’s joey, born September 14th, currently weighs somewhere in the range of 500-1,000 grams and at a little over 6 months old, is only just beginning to be seen sticking arms, legs or, in this case, its tail, outside mom’s pouch. By around 7 months, the joey will emerge from the pouched, fully furred but remaining close to mom for another 3-4 months—about late June or early July for this joey. The gender of the joey isn't yet known. Fergie is on exhibit in our Australasia exhibit. The best chance to get a glimpse of the joey is when Fergie is cleaning her pouch, even though zoo vis...