Baby Wallabies Should Be Called Walla-Babies!

Native to Australia and New Guinea, a wallaby is basically any marsupial that’s smaller than a kangaroo. There are around thirty known species of wallaby, and they all are raised in their mothers pouch; like all marsupials, the baby wallaby (called a joey) is born at an amazingly small size and must crawl into its mothers pouch to complete its gestation. As a result of this characteristic, abandoned baby wallabies are often raised in captivity in backpacks or ruck-sacks. A zookeeper or animal handler wears the backpack at his or her front and feeds the joey from a bottle; this provides it with a similar experience of being nurtured to that of its real mother. This method has worked on countless occasions, and creates an impressive bond between the joey and the keeper. Once they’re full grown, wallabies must be kept under watch because of their tendency to escape and form populations in areas and environments that they’re not meant to exist in.