PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium is jumping for joy with its latest addition.
The wallaby joey was born in October 2023 and has spent the first several months of its life tucked away inside its mother’s pouch, which provides a safe place for it to grow, sleep, nurse and keep warm.
Staff first noticed the youngster peeking out the pouch in early April but did not emerge entirely for another month. In May, the “walla-baby” was observed hopping around mom several times, but would return to the pouch in the event of something new or strange, zoo officials said.
“The joey is spending more and more time out exploring but does not stray too far from mom,” says Tiffani Thompson, Curator of Kids Kingdom. “The joey still returns to the pouch and will continue to do so for quite a while. Ava is a great mom and has done an excellent job at raising her young one.”
Bennett’s wallabies, the species in residence at the Pittsburgh Zoo, are natively found along the eastern coast of Australia. Including the newborn, the Zoo is now home to five wallabies, three males and one female – Zip, Alvin, Theodore, and Ava.
You can see the wallabies at in the Wallaby Walkabout in Kids Kingdom.
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