Baby Wallaby Releases Itself from Quarantine at the Cincinnati Zoo

Posted May 23, 2020

Baby joey peeks out of mom’s pouch for the first time 

CINCINNATI, OH (May 23, 2020)  After weeks of growing and moving around in its mom’s pouch, a tiny baby wallaby, also called a joey, peeked its head out this morning at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden!  

“We’re so excited to finally meet our new wallaby joey,” said Christina Gorsuch, Cincinnati Zoo’s curator of mammals. “We’ve seen it squirming and kicking around in Ava’s pouch for weeks, but she’s had her pouch stubbornly closed up tight. After finally seeing the joey’s naked little face, we now know why!”

Wallabies are marsupials, or pouched mammals. Babies are born underdeveloped and then crawl into their mother’s pouch and continue to develop for several months before peeking out into the world. It will probably be at least another month before the little one has fur and is ready to hop around on its own.

The Zoo will share more joey moments as it continues to celebrate Zoo Babies, presented by First Financial Bank.