This photo, provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society, shows a Matschie kangaroo calf emerging from its mother’s pouch for the first time at the Bronx Zoo in New York last Thursday. The kangaroo, born in late December, is the second of its kind to be born at the Bronx Zoo and to this female since 2021.
Terria Clay/Wildlife Conservation Society/AP
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Terria Clay/Wildlife Conservation Society/AP
NEW YORK — The second baby of a tree kangaroo made its public debut this week in New York, poking its pink head out of its mother’s furry white pouch.
The tiny Matschie tree kangaroo, or Dendrolagus matschiei, was born in December and is the second to be born to the same mother since 2022. It is also the third of its kind to be born at the Bronx Zoo since 2008.
Tree kangaroos are only pregnant for about six weeks before they are born and immediately crawl into their marsupial mother’s pouch, the zoo speak It takes about seven months for the young to emerge from the pouch.
The zoo said there are only about 2,500 tree kangaroos in the wild and 42 in captivity. In a statement Friday, a Bronx Zoo spokesperson said the birth of the kangaroo is important for the zoo network, which aims to preserve genetic diversity among endangered species.
The baby kangaroo was born in late December, the second of its kind born at the Bronx Zoo and to this female since 2021.
Terria Clay/Wildlife Conservation Society/AP
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Terria Clay/Wildlife Conservation Society/AP
“It’s a small population, so births are not very common,” said Jessica Moody, curator of primates and small mammals at the Bronx Zoo. “So it’s a rare and exciting event,” adding that the baby tree kangaroos “may be some of the cutest animals that have ever lived. 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 are mainly arboreal and are smaller than the more famous Australian red kangaroo. An adult tree kangaroo weighs 20 to 25 pounds (9–11 kg). Baby kangaroos are about the size of a human thumb when they are born, but can grow up to 30 inches (76 cm) long.
Wildlife rehabilitation programs often rely on zoos to provide genetic diversity. For example, wolves released into the wild are often fed zoo-born pups to foster, reducing the risk of inbreeding while expanding wild populations.
