Pouch Watch 2021 is over: The new baby wallaby at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has made its debut.
The zoo posted to its Facebook page yesterday that wallaby Ava’s joey popped out of her pouch for the first time.
And then the little tyke immediately went back into his cozy carrier.
The zoo does not yet know the sex of the baby, and neither it nor mom are on view.
Ava is also the mother to Pocket, who was born last year.
But this new joey is a special one.
After Pocket — with whom she was pregnant when she arrived at the zoo in 2020 — Ava had no interaction with any male wallabies, so her second pregnancy came as a surprise.
Turns out, she was carrying a second fertilized embryo in addition to Pocket.
Some mammals have the ability to put their pregnancies on pause, a process called “embryonic diapause,” the zoo says. Pocket emerged from Ava’s pouch while the other embryo continued to develop.
In March, the zoo shared video of the surprise joey wriggling around. After joeys are “born,” they move into their mother’s pouch to continue to develop.
This article appears in Apr 1-30, 2021.