The National Zoo and Aquarium is celebrating the arrival of its newest koala joey, with the seven-month-old beginning to venture beyond mum Matilda’s pouch.

Born on 28 December last year, the joey is the fourth offspring of resident koalas Matilda and Bailey, marking another milestone in the zoo’s successful breeding program.

Koala keeper Emma Drummond said both mum and joey were thriving.

“Matilda’s kind of kept the joey tucked away in her pouch through this cold weather,” she said.

“Baby’s just over seven months old now, and they’re both doing really well. Baby’s growing as we expect it to.

“The joey’s been coming out of the pouch and spending a little bit of time on Matilda’s belly, so it won’t be long before it transitions to moving around on her back.”

Despite the youngster becoming more adventurous, keepers are yet to determine whether the joey is male or female.

“We’re quite hands-off with our koalas, especially when they have a joey,” Emma said.

“Matilda’s a really good mum. This is her fourth time doing this, so she knows what she’s doing. We let her do her thing.”

For Emma, watching the joey grow has been one of the highlights of her four years at the zoo.

“Koala joeys are always amazing and adorable,” she said. “It’s super exciting to have another one and to watch that whole process as the joey grows and becomes more independent. It’s just awesome.”

The National Zoo is part of the Australasian koala breeding program, which helps establish an insurance population for the species. One of Bailey and Matilda’s older daughters was recently transferred to Taronga Zoo to contribute to the program.

Supporting the growing koala family is an equally important job behind the scenes.

Each day, the zoo’s Browse team collects more than 56 kilograms of eucalyptus for the resident koalas, carefully selecting the species they prefer to eat.

Browse team member Joshua Forster said the zoo was also expanding its eucalyptus plantations to help secure the koalas’ future food supply.

“We’re about to plant out a new plantation as we’re getting to the end of some of our other plantations,” he said.

“We’re making sure we have other options in case of bushfires, floods or anything else that might impact our cutting.”

Joshua said providing high-quality eucalyptus was particularly important while Matilda continued raising her joey.

“We need to make sure it’s the highest quality.”

To learn more about the National Zoo and Aquarium or plan your visit, head to nationalzoo.com.au.