Wallaby babes named

Keepers have sexed our two newest red-necked wallaby babes and discovered we have a boy and a girl!

The joeys were spotted out and about in Wallaby Walkthrough on July 1, but in the weeks previous the pair had been seen snuggling up together in one female’s pouch – despite having different mums!

Ungulates Team Leader, Jay Haywood, said: “We caught them both up and wrapped them tightly in a zoo jumper, which replicated a pouch, it also kept them calm while wemicrochipped them in the scruff of their necks.”

And continuing with native names for the Australian species, keepers have called the boy Darwin and the girl, Alice after their Northern Territory town namesakes.

Jay added: “When we first noticed the joeys outside we were able to date their birth by counting back six or seven months, when they would have been hidden away in the pouches, so we believe them to have been born at the start of the year.”

Mums are Adelaide and Kevin (who was named before being sexed!) and dad is Napooh, who translocated to another animal collection earlier in the year.