Rare tree kangaroo is born at Chester Zoo for the first time

Please credit: Chester Zoo. Conservationists have caught on camera the remarkable moment the tiny new joey – an endangered Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo – peeked out from mum Kitawa’s pouch. The birth has been hailed as a “real celebration” for the conservation breeding programme which is working to protect the highly threatened species from extinction - with only two zoos in the UK caring for the animals. It’s the first time Chester Zoo has bred the species in its 91-year history where, in a bid to discover more about the elusive creatures, conservationists have documented the growth of the joey using a special endoscope camera carefully placed into Kitawa’s pouch every few weeks. Experts say the data collected could help tree kangaroos, as well as other similar threatened species found in South East Asia, and their plight in the wild.