First kangaroo born in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park

A kangaroo has for the first time given birth in Gazipur's Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park.

Gazipur CorrespondentAbul Hossainbdnews24.com
Published : 1 Nov 2016, 12:07 PM
Updated : 1 Nov 2016, 12:28 PM

The baby kangaroo, or joey, was actually born in May but the park authorities kept news of the birth a secret for fear of diseases and security.

The young kangaroo left her mother's pouch in August and was put in intensive care, said the park's wildlife coordinator Anisur Rahman. 

Two females and one male of the Red Kangaroo species were brought to the park from South Africa in 2014, he said.

One of the females gave birth on May 4. The youngling got out of her pouch towards the end of August.

The adult kangaroos live on a diet of beans, spinach, carrots, bananas, apples, cucumber and fresh grass, according to another wildlife coordinator Sarwar Hossain, who was speaking to bdnews24.com.

The young kangaroo is not being fed anything except mother's milk, he said.

Baby kangaroos usually drink mother's milk for 230 to 235 days. Herbivores of the tropical climate, kangaroos mainly originate in Australia. They also have habitats in Papua New Guinea and Tasmania.   

Kangaroos live for 12 to 16 years in the wild and up to 20 years in captivity, said park officials. There were about 50 species of kangaroos in the world. 

A healthy adult can give birth three times within a span of two years. Female kangaroos give birth within just 33 days of copulation, he said.

"A baby kangaroo is only 3 to 4 centimetres in length at the time of birth. With no fur and pink in colour, baby kangaroos remain in the mother's pouch for between two and a half and three months."

"They grow furs and the limbs become visible when they reach four months. That's when they leave the pouch."

Md Sahabuddin, chief coordinating assistant conservator of forests, said lionesses gave birth to 14 lion cubs in the park last year.