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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 14, 1991                   TAG: 9102140105
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LYNN A. COYLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ELUSIVE BABY WALLABY IS POISED TO POP FROM MAMA'S POUCH

When they caught the mother, Dolly, to give her an injection, keepers checked her pouch and discovered the baby, Animal Care Supervisor Carolann Curry said.

Based on the infant's size at the time it was discovered, about 1 1/2 inches, Curry estimated it was about two weeks old.

How could the zoo staff have missed the birth of a baby? Consider this: When a wallaby is born it weighs only about one gram (.035 ounce). That's about the size of a pea.

When born, the tiny infant crawls from the mother's birth canal up the abdomen and into the pouch where it stays for months.

The only way the mother can help the process is to lick her abdomen, which makes the journey "like going down river rather than going through the forest," said Curry. "Not all of them make it. It's a hit-or-miss proposition."

For six months after the baby was discovered, it remained hidden except for an occasional flash of leg or tail poking out of the mother's pouch.

These days, the joey, as all wallaby babies are called, is much more active. It often sticks its head out of the pouch, craning its neck to see as much of the outside world as possible without leaving the warmth and safety of its mother.

Animal keeper Dixon Smiley said the joey looks just like his Doberman pinscher puppy, "with big eyes and a big snout and a long nose." The tail, "looks like a big rat tail," Smiley said.

The baby's father, Beanlet, is on breeding loan from Folsom's Children's Zoo in Lincoln, Neb., where this baby will go to live after it is weaned. Bing, a female born in 1988, was part of the Mill Mountain Zoo collection, but has been sold to another zoo.

Dolly is a permanent resident of Mill Mountain Zoo. Both parents are 4 years old.

No one knows for sure when the joey will completely emerge from the pouch, but zoo staffers' estimates ranged from early March to April Fool's Day. The sex of the joey is also still unknown.

This is the first year the zoo has been open year round, so you can go wallaby watching even during the winter.

There are some advantages to visiting the zoo in winter. The price is lower in the off-season: $2 for adults and $1 for children under 12. Admission for children under 2 is free. Although some of the animals have been taken inside to protect them from harsh weather, most remain on display.

Visitors are more rare, so it's much easier to get the animals attention as we seem compelled to do - as if we, not they, were the main attraction. Even Ruby the tiger, who is accustomed to lots of attention, seems more likely to look your way or come bounding out of her inner sanctum upon hearing someone approach.

The zoo is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but the animals tend to be more active early and late in the day, when they are fed.

There is no best time for wallaby watching, according to Hartsell. The joey has been spotted at various hours of the day.

When the baby does fully emerge it will probably stick pretty close to its mother, Curry said. Then if it gets frightened it will dive head first back into the mother's pouch, roll into a ball, then poke its head back out, Curry said. page