This week, the Netherlands welcomed a brand new - and frankly adorable - arrival. On Monday, visitors at BestZoo in North Brabant were pleasantly surprised when they spotted a baby wombat emerging from its mother's pouch.
Those working at the zoo had already seen the youngster peeking out of its mother's pouch, but had been reluctant to announce the birth as young wombats are apparently quite hesitant to show themselves. Luckily for a couple of keen-eyed visitors, however, on Monday, April 10 the joey decided to make an appearance.
While this is certainly a cause for celebration, workers aren’t sure exactly how old the baby wombat is. "This wombat is clearly visible for the first time, but we have no idea when the animal was born,” Jos Nooren, owner of BestZoo, told Omroep Brabant. “The creature could be four, five or even six months old."
Native to Australia, wombats are unique for a number of reasons, including their backwards-facing pouch and square-shaped faeces. They’re a marsupial, like kangaroos and koalas, which are characterised by the fact that young are born prematurely - a newborn wombat is only around two centimetres in length - and continue to grow and develop in their mother’s pouch.
There aren’t many zoos in the world where you can find wombats - in fact, BestZoo on the outskirts of Eindhoven is the only animal park in the Netherlands that has them.
Thumb: R.J. Low via Shutterstock.com.