Goodfellow's tree kangaroo: Extremely rare joey born in UK zoo for first time
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Peekaboo!
This story will hopefully have you jumping for joy - a really rare tree kangaroo has been born for the first time ever at Chester Zoo!
The adorable Goodfellow's kangaroo joey (which is what baby kangaroos are called) was spotted by zookeepers poking its head out of his mum's pouch earlier this week.
The birth has been massively celebrated by conservationists. There are only two zoos in the UK that care for this particular type of kangaroo, and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classifies them as endangered.
The joey doesn't have a name yet - keepers are waiting until it ventures out of its mum's pouch
This means that there's a high risk that this particular species could go extinct in the wild.
The baby was actually born in July, but Goodfellow's tree kangaroos spend six months developing in their mum's pouches before they're ready to venture out into the big, wide world.
Their scientific name is Dendrolagus goodfellowi
Tree kangaroos are much smaller than Australian kangaroos and live high up in trees in the forests of Papua New Guinea
They can leap to the ground from 18 metres up without injuring themselves
They have a chambered stomach for breaking down and absorbing a tough diet of flowers, grasses and leaves
Populations in the wild have declined by 50% as a result of hunting and deforestation
In fact, David White, team manager at the zoo, said the Goodfellow's tree kangaroo species has "one of the most complex birthing processes in the animal kingdom.
"When a joey is first born it's only the size of a jellybean and is incredibly underdeveloped," he said.
The joey gets all its nutrition from the pouch while it stays in there
"Moments after the birth, with eyes still tightly closed, the joey knows to instinctively crawl up mum's belly and into her pouch - following a channel which she has marked out by licking her fur."
The joey is expected to fully emerge from the pouch soon and start hopping around and learning to climb trees.
Mr White said that's the point at which they'll give it a name, as it won't be until then that they can determine whether it's a boy or a girl.
Goodfellow's tree kangaroos have distinctive reddish-brown fur
Conservationists at Chester zoo have documented the growth of the joey using a special endoscope camera carefully placed into mum Kitawa's pouch every few weeks.
An endoscope camera is a long flexible tube that's able to take pictures in hard to reach places - they're often used in medical exams on humans, if doctors need to see what's going on inside a person's body.
It's thought the data will help not only other tree kangaroos, but other endangered species too.
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