A wombat was born in the BestZoo zoo in Brabant. According to the zoo, this is a first: it is the first wombat birth ever in a Dutch zoo. On Monday, an observant visitor saw the young Australian marsupial sticking its head out of the pouch for the first time.
It is unknown when exactly the wombat was born. The Australian marsupial is very small at birth and remains in the mother’s pouch for months.
“The wombats are doing well,” the zoo said. “The youngster regularly sticks his snout out.”
Wombats look a bit like koalas. Only these Australian nocturnal animals do not live in trees, but on the ground. Wombats are special for several reasons. For example, they have square turds and their pouch is ‘the other way around’: the entrance of the pouch faces backwards. That way no sand gets into the pouch while digging, which wombats like to do.
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Parents of wombat pups in the Netherlands since 2021
It may be true that these are the first wombats in a Dutch zoo, director Wineke Schoo of the Dutch Association of Zoos told NU.nl. Although she indicates that she is “not an encyclopedia”. Only the largest zoos are members of the NVD.
BestZoo brought the two wombat parents from Australia to the Netherlands in October 2021. There are many wombats in Australian zoos. Some end up there as a young wombat after their mother was hit by a car. Zoo owner Jos Nooren told this earlier Broadcasting Brabant. If this happens, the young will be taken out of the pouch by aid workers and raised in a shelter with the bottle. “And because more and more wombats are being added to the shelter, some of these animals can go to zoos.”
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