Pregnant koalas are hard to spot (so is a newborn joey the size of a jellybean) so it’s only now – eight months after the birth – that the National Zoo and Aquarium has announced the arrival of a new joey.
The gender-reveal party is also delayed, as zookeepers can’t get close enough to the maternally-protective mum (Matilda) to find out (the last two sibling joeys were female so the odds are high for a male). What we do know is that its birthday was 19th November and it’s a Scorpio.
We’ll call it joey for now but if the public had its way we’d probably end up with Blinky McBlinkface. Thankfully, the zookeepers will have naming rights and their hearts are set on ACT indigenous names like joey’s sisters, Kirra and Namadgi.
Animal care manager Sophie Dentrinos said for the past couple of months joey has been making partial appearances by occasionally poking its arms, legs or head out of mum’s pouch. It now weighs a respectable 650 grams.
“Mother and joey have been bonding very nicely and we try not to get too close or too hands-on when they’re little as it may stress the mum and she may reject the joey,” Sophie said. “Mum’s super protective and joey’s still clinging to mum so we let them do their thing.”
Joey’s been suckling mum’s milk (whose pregnancy lasted only 35 weeks, with no morning sickness or cravings, lucky marsupial (not a bear) and has just started eating solids (eucalypt leaves). It’s hitting all the milestones and unlike today’s Gen Y’s, Joey will be independent of mum at about 12 months.
As for dad (Bailey), he’s done his job (mating) and has nothing to do with parenting, choosing a solitary life instead. Equity in the workplace hasn’t caught up in the animal kingdom yet.
While any new life is a joyous occasion, this new joey’s birth is monumental to the endangered koala species, with only 80,000 koalas surviving in south-east Australia.
It’s been two years since the last joey was born at the National Zoo and Aquarium, and the best thing is that it first poked its head out of mum’s pouch on mother’s day this year. What a media-savvy little marsupial.
