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Detroit Zoo welcomes new baby wallaby

Posted at 6:18 PM, May 05, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-05 18:39:05-04

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (WXYZ) — For the past several months, a new baby wallaby has been adjusting to life at the Detroit Zoo. In October 2020, the baby wallaby, also known as a "joey," became the newest addition to the Detroit Zoo family.

The baby and mother live on the Detroit Zoo's two-acre Australian Outback Adventure with two other wallabies and 13 red kangaroos. Eloise is the mother's name and the newborn is her first joey.

“Joeys don’t start getting fur until about six months. Now that there is a fine layer of fur, the joey is starting to venture out,” said Elizabeth Arbaugh, curator of mammals for the Detroit Zoological Society (DZS).

The baby wallaby hasn't been named yet, and it's the first joey to be born at the Detroit Zoo since 2010.

Zoo officials also say that the sex of the joey will later be determined when it's out of the mother's pouch.