Sydney zoo unveils first baby koala in more than a year
(KYMA, KECY) - An Australian zoo has unveiled its latest addition. A baby koala!
According to the zoo, Humphrey the koala joey is the first to be born at Taronga zoo Sydney in over a year.
A senior koala keeper said the eight-month-old joey joined its mother at the zoo's new encounter exhibit and was already attempting to eat eucalyptus leaves.
Koala joeys usually stay in their mother's pouch for up to six months, before emerging and attaching themselves to their mothers' back.
The keeper said koalas are now a threatened species.
Thousands of koalas died during wildfires in the southern hemisphere last summer and much of their habitat in new south wales state was razed.
"We've only just seen him in the last two weeks, so around 8 months old, although it seems weird, that's the right time to come out of the pouch. He'll stay with mum until he's about a year old, at which point he'll be ready to become independent from her."
"Koalas in the wild aren't having a great time. We all know that we had some really catastrophic bushfires here on the east coast last year. That made a really big dent in our koala numbers, unfortunately. But there are other threats that continue to exist today: so hit by cars, dog attacks, there are some diseases that koalas suffer from and the really big one is land clearing."
