Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium welcomes bouncing baby wallaby to Kids Kingdom
By Heather Lang
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium has a new baby that will have visitors bouncing with excitement.
Ava, the 4-year-old wallaby that lives in the Wallaby Walkabout exhibit in Kids Kingdom, is now mom to a cute little joey, the zoo staff said. It is still unknown if the baby is male or female and it still needs a name.
Zookeepers first saw the joey in Ava’s pouch in early April, but it did not fully emerge until May when it was seen hopping around its mom and then returning to her pouch.
The joey was born back in October at the size of a jellybean, the experts at the zoo said. Marsupial babies spend several months after birth in their mother’s pouch, where they grow, sleep, nurse and stay warm.
“The joey is spending more and more time out exploring but does not stray too far for mom,” Tiffani Thompson, curator of Kids Kingdom, said in a press release. “The joey still returns to the pouch and will continue to do so for quite a while. Ava is a great mom and has done an excellent job at raising her young one.”
The Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium is home to the Bennett’s wallaby species. The zoo said the wallabies are native to the eastern coast of Australia.
In the wild, Bennett’s wallabies do not currently face significant conservation threats, the zoo said. Their main predators are dingoes, feral dogs and cats, red foxes and humans because they often roam near roads and urban areas.
The joey can now be seen hopping around with the rest of the mob at Wallaby Walkabout in Kids Kingdom. It does still spend time in its mom’s pouch though, the zoo said.
The zoo is now home to five wallabies. They are Zip, Alvin, Theodore, Ava, and her joey.
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