Chemnitz Zoo: Offspring in the pouch
Two Bennett's kangaroos born
The Bennett's kangaroos at Chemnitz Zoo have had offspring. Two of the three females each have a kitten in their pouch.
How old they are, however, can only be estimated. At birth, kangaroo babies are no bigger than a 2-euro coin. However, the staff at the zoo assume that the young animals were born last year. This was the first time they were able to observe conspicuous movements in the mother's pouch.
As with all marsupials, Bennett's kangaroo pups are born relatively underdeveloped after a short gestation period of around 30 days. They are naked, deaf and blind and can only hold on to their mother's fur with the help of their arms. Nevertheless, they find their way into the pouch quite quickly and independently. There they suck on a teat and are thus supplied with their mother's milk. Usually only a single cub is born, twins are rare.
Visitors to the zoo can now see the young animals peeking out of their mothers' pouches relatively regularly. With a bit of luck and patience, they can observe the cubs moving around outside the pouch. However, they still leave the pouch relatively rarely.
At some point, however, the young kangaroos become so big that they no longer fit into the pouch. However, the young are still suckled until they are around one year old. For this purpose, they put their head into their mother's pouch. Over the next few weeks, this transition will be very easy to follow in the zoo.
www.tierpark-chemnitz.de
Opening hours of the zoo and wildlife centre in March:
Daily: 9 am to 5 pm, last admission 4 pm
Opening hours of the zoo and wildlife park in April:
Daily: 9 am to 7 pm, last admission 6 pm