A koala joey has emerged from its mother’s pouch at the Los Angeles Zoo, which announced the unnamed baby’s appearance on Wednesday, May 3 — also known as Wild Koala Day, celebrated in Australia. He was born to first-time parents, three-year-old Maya and nine-year-old Burra, on Aug. 4, 2022, and spent months nursing and growing inside Maya’s pouch.
Zoo visitors can view the baby at the Zoo’s Australia habitat, where officials say he is starting to explore the world around him, resting on his mother’s lap or back, and casually nibbling eucalyptus leaves.
“The L.A. Zoo has a long history with koalas, and a new generation of Angelenos will have the unique opportunity to see this joey grow up,” said Beth Schaefer, director of animal programs, Los Angeles Zoo. “I am also delighted for guests to come to the zoo today on Wild Koala Day, and beyond, to learn more about this species and the threats to their survival in the wild.”
Wild Koala Day is celebrated annually on May 3 to raise awareness about threats koalas face in Australia due to habitat destruction, fragmentation, bushfires, disease, and drought-associated mortality in fragmented habitats. In 2019 and 2020, massive Australian bushfires blackened more than 24 million hectares of land. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists koalas as vulnerable.
Zoo officials say guests are invited to visit L.A. Zoo’s Australia habitat to “catch a glimpse of the growing joey as he bonds with Maya and becomes more adventurous, weather permitting.”
Often referred to as a “koala bear,” koalas are really marsupials like kangaroos, opossums and wombats. They give birth to premature babies called joeys, the size of a jellybean. The hairless and blind joey uses its front paws to climb up its mother’s fur and into her pouch where it nurses and develops for six months before emerging.
