The birth of a wombat in a zoo is cause for celebration because these marsupials seldom breed in captivity, the Budapest Zoo said in a press release. They said this is the fourth baby of the pair and altogether only the 16th wombat born in a European zoo in the past 100 years.
It may be surprising, but the zoo said the baby was born sometime in the autumn but was only recently observed with night-vision cameras. Although wombats have a short gestation period of only a month, they continue to develop in their mother’s pouch for another five months, will only peek out of the pouch at around the age of six months and will take their first hesitant steps in the outside world a few weeks later.
Given that the newborn is still in the pouch, the zoo could not yet ascertain its gender.
