NEW YORK.- The second baby of a tree-dwelling kangaroo made its public debut this week in New York, poking its pink head out of its mother’s furry white pouch.
Matschie’s tiny tree-kangaroo, or Dendrolagus matschiei, was born in December and is the second born to the same mother since 2022. It was also the third of its kind born at the Bronx Zoo since 2008.
There are only about 2,500 tree kangaroos in the wild and 42 in captivity, the zoo added. In a statement Friday, a Bronx Zoo spokesman said the kangaroo’s birth was significant for the network of zoos that aims to preserve genetic diversity among endangered animals.
“It’s a small population, so births aren’t very common,” said Jessica Moody, curator of primates and small mammals at the Bronx Zoo. “So it’s a rare and exciting event.” She added that baby tree kangaroos are “possibly one of the cutest animals that have ever existed. They look like stuffed animals, it’s amazing.”
Tree kangaroos are native to the Huon Peninsula in Papua New Guinea, where they are threatened by human activities such as habitat destruction and hunting, the statement said. They live primarily in trees and are smaller than Australia’s better-known red kangaroo. An adult tree kangaroo weighs between 9 and 11 kilograms (20 and 25 pounds). The young are about the size of a human thumb when born but grow up to 30 inches (76 centimeters).
Wildlife restoration programs often rely on zoos to achieve genetic diversity. For example, wolves reintroduced into the wild are often given zoo-born pups to raise, reducing the risk of inbreeding while also expanding wild populations.
Source: With information from AP
