Overview
- Chester Zoo released seldom-seen images and video from inside Kitawa’s pouch, filmed between October and December, confirming the joey is a healthy male.
- The birth is part of a European conservation breeding programme, with scientists timing the pairing of Kitawa and Kayjo using hormone monitoring in the zoo’s on-site laboratory.
- Born roughly the size of a jellybean, the youngster now weighs about 1.85 kg after months developing in the pouch before first emerging last week.
- This marks only the second successful breeding of Goodfellow’s tree kangaroos at Chester Zoo, and only two UK zoos currently care for the species.
- Goodfellow’s tree kangaroos are endemic to Papua New Guinea and listed as endangered due to hunting and habitat loss, with the joey’s name to be chosen with input from PNG communities.