It's Spring Break and the San Antonio Zoo's newest marsupial is getting more attention as she starts to make her way out of her mom's pouch. The 8-month-old joey is the latest addition to the Matschie's Tree Kangaroo family.
"Our new joey is becoming a little bit more brave and curious, so she’s definitely sticking her head out of the pouch a little bit more often now," says Melannie Lough, a senior animal care specialist with one of the zoo's mammal departments. "She makes very, very short appearances where she comes out of mom’s pouch and then goes right back in."
"These guys are not a very well-known animal so they are very cool and exciting and mysterious," she says. "(It's) not too often you see basically a type of kangaroo hanging out in the tree top. They do live in like a cloud rain forest, so they do live fairly high up. Average height they live is about 60 feet up in the trees. And they do spend most of their time up in the trees. These guys are endangered in the wild mostly due to logging and mining in their natural habitat so a lot of the trees are being clear cut and taken down."
The San Antonio Zoo is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. all week long.