Five Red Kangaroo were born at Tama Zoo this year (2019), resulting in a spring "mating season" of births.
Red Kangaroo have a short gestation period of about 30 days and are born very prematurely. They are only about 2 centimeters long and weigh about 1 gram, roughly the size of a 1-yen coin. Immediately after birth, they climb out of their mother's pouch on their own and spend about 6 months inside. We captured a video of a baby kangaroo right after it was born.
[Video] Newborn babies climb onto their mother's body and enter the sac. The nipples are also inside the sac. (Photo taken on June 18, 2019)
Around 7-8 months of age, the cubs begin to repeatedly go in and out of their mother's pouch. When the entire cub emerges from its mother's pouch, this is called "emergence from the pouch," and at Tama Zoo, animal keeper record the day they first observe the cub emergence as its birthday.
Of the five calves that have emerged from their mother's pouch, two have already separated from her and are on their own, but you can sometimes see the mother and calves together as the calves come to receive milk from their mother.
Left: At about 5 months old; Right: At around 7-8 months old, babies repeatedly go in and out of their mother's pouch.
Around 4 pm, the hungry kangaroos start heading back one after another, leaping up and down the stairs towards the room where their food is kept.
Meanwhile, young porgy that have just emerged from their pouches sometimes get lost in the enclosure, unable to find their way back. The young porgy call out to their mothers with a coughing sound like "kakaka," but some mothers become more interested in the delicious food in front of them than their own offspring...
One day, a baby turtle was left alone in the enclosure. Hoping its mother would come to get it, the turtle waited with its camera ready, and soon the mother, Sorrel, noticed her baby's cries and came to retrieve it. The mother and baby were reunited, and once Sorrel confirmed that her baby was in her pouch, she returned to her room.
[Video] A baby and its mother were left behind in the enclosure. They were reunited safely.
The baby kangaroos currently inside the pouch will gradually spend more time outside. Take this opportunity to observe both those peeking out of the pouch and those hopping around energetically outside, and compare the growth stages of Red Kangaroo firsthand. And why not relax and observe the kangaroos as they leisurely relax in the enclosure?
