The San Diego Zoo’s Australian Outback has a new resident – koala mom Cambee gave birth to an adorable little joey! She actually gave birth last November, but the little one only recently emerged from her mom’s pouch. Talk about a cute backpack. 🐨
“It is always fun when we get to work with koala joeys and watch their personalities develop,” said Lacy Pearson, San Diego Zoo keeper. “At this age, she has not shown us her personality yet, but she is doing great, and has already started to eat eucalyptus leaves.”
The San Diego Zoo has the largest breeding colony of Queensland koalas and the most successful koala breeding program outside of Australia. Zoo officials say the tiny baby koala just had her first check-up and doesn’t have a name yet, so stay tuned.
Can’t make it to the zoo to visit the koalas? No problem! Watch the koalas live here.
Fun Fact: Koala joeys eat their mother’s poop in order to obtain the bacteria koalas need in their gut to digest eucalyptus leaves.
Cambee’s joey isn’t the only cute baby at the San Diego Zoo right now… they are also looking after a little red ruffed lemur who currently tips the scale at 9.2 oz. Keepers named him Ony, which means river in Malagasy.
Ony was born on May 18, 2016. This is the first baby for red ruffed lemur Morticia. Keepers are stoked because it has been 13 years since the last red ruffed lemur was born at the zoo.
These striking red and black creatures are among the largest in the lemur family – and also the loudest. Sadly, the IUCN Red List states that the red ruffed lemur is critically endangered. Logging, burning of habitat, cyclones, mining, hunting, and the illegal pet trade are primary threats. This is why every new birth is such an exciting event.
You can’t visit the lemurs at this time. You can look forward to seeing the red ruffed family, and the rest of the zoo’s amazing lemurs, when Africa Rocks opens in summer 2017.
Fun Fact: The San Diego Zoo has a successful history of breeding red ruffed lemurs; in fact, they’ve had over 100 born since 1965. They attribute this success to the Primate Propagation Center, a facility specifically designed for breeding lemurs.