Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 19, 1990                   TAG: 9007190364
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NEW RESIDENT CAN'T BE SEEN, FOR AWHILE

A joey is a baby wallaby, and when exactly this joey was born nobody can say. But a veterinarian examined the zoo's female wallaby Tuesday and confirmed what zookeepers suspected.

Inside its pouch there is a tiny, hairless wallaby - about the size of a thumbnail, said Beth Poff, the zoo's director.

A wallaby is much like a kangaroo, but smaller. Native to Tasmania, an island off southern Australia, the wallaby is a marsupial that carries its young in a pouch.

Joeys crawl from the female's vagina and through the mother's fur into the pouch, said Poff.

Inside the pouch, the joey attaches to a mammary gland and grows.

A wallaby was born at the zoo last year, but didn't peek out of its mother's pouch until 4 to 6 weeks after birth. Within four months, the joey left the pouch.

Under an agreement with the Folsom Zoo in Lincoln, Neb., which owns the male wallaby now on Mill Mountain, alternate joeys are sent to Nebraska. Last year's young wallaby was sent to Nebraska.

This week's new wallaby is the property of Mill Mountain Zoo, which owns the female wallaby, said Poff.