UK’s only koala joey
is a girl!
credit RZSS/Sian Addison
The UK’s only koala
joey has had her first health check at the Royal Zoological Society of
Scotland’s (RZSS) Edinburgh Zoo.
Staff at the
wildlife conservation charity have confirmed that the youngster, born in July
last year, is a girl and currently weighs 759g.
Keepers will now
choose an Aboriginal inspired name for the young joey, as they did with her
sister who was born in 2018 and named Kalari, meaning ‘daughter’.
Lorna Hughes, team
leader for koalas at Edinburgh Zoo, said, “We are thrilled our youngster is
doing well after her first health check.
“Like all young
koala joeys, she spends most of her time clinging to her mum, so we gave her a
soft toy to hold on to while she was being weighed.
“At nearly eight
months old, she’s now almost too big to fit inside mum Alinga’s pouch and has
started to venture outside and onto Alinga's back more regularly.”
As well as being
part of the international breeding programme for Queensland koalas, RZSS
supports conservation projects for the species in Australia. In January keepers
at the zoo held a fundraiser for Science for Wildlife who worked to rescue
koalas in the Blue Mountains region following wildfires that swept the country
earlier this year. The campaign raised £1,790 and gave those who donated the
chance to win one of three original framed paw prints from the zoo’s koalas.
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