News from the zoo: Triple offspring in the pouch
There is more good news from the zoo: the Bennett's kangaroos have had offspring. All 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. In this respect, you don't necessarily notice the young immediately.
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, where they suck on a teat and are thus supplied with their mother's milk. Usually only a single cub is born, twins are rare.
After around six months, the young leave the pouch for the first time. After a further two months, it has finally become too big to fit in. However, the young are suckled until they are around one year old. For this purpose, they put their head into their mother's pouch. This is not yet the case at the zoo. However, you can now see the young animals peeking out of their mothers' pouches relatively regularly.
A total of four Bennett's kangaroos live at the zoo, including one buck. As the species is relatively hardy, it can use the outdoor enclosure all year round. They share this with the greater emus, an Australian ratite species. At the zoo, the kangaroos give birth relatively regularly in January or February.