Over the past month two Swamp Wallaby joeys have emerged from their mother’s pouches and started exploring their surrounds.
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The two joeys are both females and are approximately seven months of age.
They are becoming more and more independent, hopping out of their mother’s pouches more regularly now, especially when the sun is out. The joeys are still a little shy and will stay close to their mothers’ sides throughout the day.
The Swamp wallaby is found in eastern and southern Australia from Cape York to South western Victoria. They prefer thick undergrowth in the forest. They hide in thick grass and dense bush during the day, and come out at dusk to browse for food. They eat a variety of grasses, shrubs and ferns.
Over the coming months they will start to become more confident and venture away from their mothers to explore their exhibit and start mingling with the other wallabies.
Keepers have named the two new arrivals Wiluray, an Aboriginal term for ‘very sweet’ and Echuca, an Aboriginal term for ‘meeting of the water’.
The Swamp Wallaby joeys are in the Aussie Walkthrough exhibit, with a great time to see them being at the keeper talk at 2.15pm every day.
The joeys are just the first of a number of new arrivals in this exhibit, to emerge from their mums’ pouches.
Keepers are hopeful that more joeys will emerge in the coming month from some of our other Aussie animals that call this exhibit home.