Meet Our New Baby Wallabies

Two of the most popular new arrivals are Jane and Kitty, the Bennett’s wallaby joeys! Any guesses where their names came from? I’ll tell you at the end of the blog post!

Here’s what the zookeepers shared with me about these cute new marsupials:

This species (part of the kangaroo kind) is native to Australia, but Jane comes from an accredited facility in Florida, and Kitty comes from an accredited facility in Ohio. Jane is currently 10 months old, and Kitty is 9 months old.

They will eventually join other animals in the Eden Zoo’s new wallaby walkabout, where guests can enter during select times to see them all up close.

Jane and Kitty were both raised by their mothers. As marsupials, they were only the size of jellybeans when they were born, and they were blind, deaf, and hairless. God designed them to know how to crawl up into their mothers’ pouches, where they finished developing over the course of about four to five months. They don’t start leaving the pouch until they’re about five–six months old. By eight months old, they’re too big and their mothers kick them out.

That’s when our keepers adopted them and started hand-raising them behind the scenes. Since they’ll be in a walkabout habitat, it’s important that they get used to strangers and all kinds of sights, sounds, and smells.

Hand-raising these wallabies also ensures they are comfortable with any care they need, especially veterinary care. Our zoo staff have dedicated lots of time to care for them, and they take turns spending the night with them at the zoo to ensure they get their bottles and are staying happy and healthy.

Guests will love the new wallaby walkabout (and we also have a kangaroo walkabout at the Ark Encounter). Lord willing, the Creation Museum’s new zoo will open later this month.

New Behind-the-Scenes Experience

If you love macropods (the kind kangaroos and wallabies belong to), you can get up close and personal with them during our brand-new Behind-the-Scenes Macropod Experience at the Ark Encounter. This special ticketed experience allows you to touch, feed, and take photos with our kangaroo mob while learning all about this special kind. This experience is available May through October but is limited to 10 spaces per day, so be sure to reserve your spot in advance for your visit to the Ark Encounter.

Now, did you guess where our new Bennet’s wallabies’ names come from? The correct answer is Jane and Kitty are named after two of the five Bennet sisters from the popular Jane Austen novel, Pride and Prejudice.

Plan your visit today at CreationMuseum.org (remember, kids 10 and under visit free!).

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.