{"id":373055,"date":"2026-01-16T10:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/373055\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T10:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:01:13","slug":"watch-the-moment-adorable-rare-tree-kangaroo-joey-peers-out-of-mums-pouch-at-chester-zoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/373055\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch the moment adorable rare tree kangaroo joey peers out of mum’s pouch at Chester Zoo"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rare Goodfellow\u2019s tree kangaroo joey has emerged from his mother\u2019s pouch at Chester Zoo<\/a> – marking a major conservation milestone for one of the world\u2019s most threatened marsupials.<\/p>\n

The
\nnewborn male joey arrived to mum, Kitawa, and dad, Kayjo, as part of an international conservation breeding programme that\u2019s
\nensuring the continued survival of the species.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just
\nthe second time experts have bred the species at the conservation
\nzoo, with only two zoos in the UK currently caring for the rare
\nanimals.<\/p>\n

With the all-clear given,
\nzookeepers say they will soon begin choosing a suitable name for the “special arrival”.<\/p>\n

\"It'sIt’s a boy! Chester Zoo have shared new pictures of one of their newest arrivals – an adorable tree kangaroo joey<\/p>\n

The joey, which now weighs 1.85kg but
\nwas no bigger than a jellybean at birth, has spent the first months
\nof his life developing inside Kitawa\u2019s pouch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Experts inserted tiny
\nendoscopic cameras into the pouch to confirm Kitawa\u2019s pregnancy and
\ncarefully monitor her joey\u2019s development.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The footage and findings gathered by the ‘pouch cam’ are expected to provide valuable insight for conservation breeding
\nprogrammes worldwide.<\/p>\n

Matthew Lloyd, a tree kangaroo expert at the zoo, said: \u201cWhen people think of kangaroos, they rarely imagine small, fluffy animals living high in the treetops. With so little known about tree kangaroos, Kitawa\u2019s joey is a particularly special arrival, and represents a major step forward in understanding and protecting this remarkable species from extinction.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe new joey with his mum, Kitawa. Photo: Chester Zoo<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to carefully track this joey\u2019s development inside the pouch using tiny cameras wasn\u2019t possible only a few years ago, and it\u2019s already helped us learn more crucial information about the early stages of life inside the pouch – knowledge that can now support, and hopefully speed up, our conservation breeding efforts globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a name for the little one just yet, but our choice will be influenced by communities in Papua New Guinea who live alongside tree kangaroos and are now part of efforts to protect their forest homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kitawa can be seen in the zoo\u2019s Islands zone, where visitors may spot the joey popping his head out of her pouch as he becomes more confident.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tree kangaroos are known for spending long periods resting in trees, often sleeping in a head-down position to help shed rain from their fur in their tropical forest homes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rare Goodfellow\u2019s tree kangaroo joey has emerged from his mother\u2019s pouch at Chester Zoo – marking a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[84403,96,18102,50,90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-373055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-attractions","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-latest-videos","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom","16":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}