At BestZOO zoo in Best, a young wombat showed itself for the first time on Monday by peeking out of its mother’s pouch. This makes the mysterious animal the first wombat born in the Netherlands. “Very unique”, Jos Nooren, the owner of BestZOO, said.
An observant visitor to BestZOO took a fascinating picture. A small furry animal pushes aside the mother’s pouch with its paw and peeks out. “This wombat shows itself clearly and a bit longer for the first time, but we have no idea when the animal was born”, Nooren explains. “The animal could be four, five or even six months old”.
The Australian marsupial is unique for several reasons. For one, it is the only animal with square turds, this has to do that the animal squeezes the nutrients out to the last bit. A young is tiny at birth, about two centimetres tall. After birth, the animal remains in its mother’s pouch for six to seven months.
Peep
Like other burrowing marsupials, the pouch sits more to the rear so the cub is not buried in sand while the mother digs in the ground. It is waiting for the animal to show itself one day. This happened on Easter Monday in Best. “We had already seen the little animal itself peek out of the pouch cautiously once. We did not want to announce this right away, because then we would have to disappoint many visitors who would not see the cub. After all, young wombats rarely show themselves”, Nooren confessed.
On Monday, the first visitors saw the wombat. Still, it remains a mysterious animal, according to its owner. “Very little is known about the species”. That’s not surprising. Zoo owner Nooren had a first for the Netherlands when he brought wombats from Australia to Best two years ago. That didn’t go easily. The Australian government had to approve the arrival and stay of the critters, in every detail.
Waiting
“In the world only a limited number of zoos have the animal. So births are also rare in captivity. What will happen to the young wombat now remains to be seen. “When the mother has enough milk, the pouch becomes too heavy and then the animal will come out. For now it remains to be seen when this will happen”.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
