DUISBURG, Germany—A newborn koala at a German zoo made its debut by popping its head out of it mother’s pouch.
The as-yet-unnamed joey, whose sex has not been revealed, was recently filmed by I. Sickmann at the Duisburg Zoo, in that western German city. The video shows the mom, Gooni, standing still while her baby moves around in its pouch before its small, hairless head emerges for some fresh air.
The zoo presented the memorable moment to the public on its social media accounts.
“We have news from our youngest koala — see who’s looking out of the bag,” the postings said.
Gooni is a 4-year-old koala who was also born at the zoo, said Christian Schreiner, the zoo’s sponsoring and public relations officer.
Koalas use their pouches to care for their young, who climb into them as newborns. Around six months of age, baby koalas begin to peek out of their mother’s pouch for the first time.
The animals eventually leave the pouch but tend to regularly climb back in until they are about seven to nine months old. By the time they are a year old, young koalas are independent.
Overall, koalas are listed as “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Despite massive fires in its native Australia earlier this year, the koala population there is on the rebound, thanks in large part to the Billibong Zoo, Koala & Wildlife Park, which has been breeding the species for 25 years, Zenger News reported last month.
(Edited by Matthew Hall and Carlin Becker).
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