topic Re: White Baby Kangaroo in Community Chat

White Baby Kangaroo

Greeneyedlady21 — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 19:08:24 GMT

TimesUnion.com Jan 23rd

One of Animal Adventure Park’s red kangaroos gave birth several months ago, and the first look by keepers revealed a white joey, an extremely rare color mutation. The park announced that the baby kangaroo has been named Cosmo.

Red kangaroos are born about the size of a human’s thumbnail, and much of their development takes place in their mother’s pouch, the zoo said in a release. After four to five months of growth and nurturing by mom, the keepers were able to safely perform the first “pull,” removing the baby from mom’s pouch for a full inspection and medical review. The joey was then returned to mom’s pouch.

An inspection late last week revealed the very rare leucistic male joey, born to parents Rosie and Boomer.

“We are not aware of any leucistic red kangaroo in the United States, indicating just how rare of an occurrence this is,” Jordan Patch, owner of Animal Adventure Park, said. “We are now working with professionals in the zoological community to determine just how unique of a blessing this little one is!”

Different from albinism, leucism is a partial loss of pigmentation, which causes an animal to have white or patchily colored skin and fur, but the condition does not affect the pigment cells in the eyes, the zoo said. This particular joey has a white coat and black color pigmentation in the eyes, prompting the park’s animal care experts to consider this animal leucistic, rather than albino.The genetic combination between Rosie and Boomer is what yielded this surprising coloration, the zoo said.

Animal Adventure Park is located in Harpursville, which is roughly 15 minutes outside of Binghamton, and home to more than 100 species of animals. The park's most notable resident is April, a giraffe that was live-streamed throughout her pregnancy and birth in 2017. The stream garnered millions of views and propelled April to near-celebrity status.

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

gidgetgh — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 19:40:53 GMT

It's very exciting. I follow Animal Adventure Park, started when April the giraffe attained her fame. I'm thrilled that they have a new adorable, very rare Joey to bring more attention to the park.

Cosmo is so darn cute.

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

4kitties — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 19:41:55 GMT

Awwwwwww!!! A cutie patootie!💕💕

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

gidgetgh — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 19:52:49 GMT

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

Spurt — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 19:54:20 GMT

sooooooooooooooooooooooo cute!

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

Mz iMac — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 22:35:34 GMT

If that baby was born in the wild, he/she would not havd had a snowball chance in hell of surviving. Good thing it was born in a protected enviroment.

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

michmi — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 22:40:31 GMT

Oh my goodness! Beautiful. And I'm so glad the baby is in a safe place. Whenever I see a picture of an all white animal in the wild, I just know someone will purposely try to kill it as a trophy or it will fall prey to another animal.

I started following them when April was going to give birth also. Time has flown!

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

qvcfreak — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 22:40:41 GMT

So adorable, thanks for sharing

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

Boomernichols — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 23:01:30 GMT

@Greeneyedlady21 Thanks for sharing Cosmo with us as I would have never seen it otherwise! How sweet is that little face? Can you imagine being the caretaker for such a precious baby!

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

lh8990 — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 23:29:30 GMT

I've been to Animal Aventure Park and it is an amazing facility with a wonderful success rate in care and breeding of many species. Their displays are very roomy and the park is lovely. The animals are clearly well cared for and loved by Jordan (pictured in the green sweatshirt, I have the same one!) and his staff.

They first came to prominence when April had her giraffe, as mentioned, and they appear to be expecting another giraffe with a different mom (Johari) soon.

If you are in the NY/NJ/PA area, it's definitely worth a trip. Near Binghamton NY.

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

gidgetgh — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 23:36:20 GMT

@lh8990 wrote:
I've been to Animal Aventure Park and it is an amazing facility with a wonderful success rate in care and breeding of many species. Their displays are very roomy and the park is lovely. The animals are clearly well cared for and loved by Jordan (pictured in the green sweatshirt, I have the same one!) and his staff.

They first came to prominence when April had her giraffe, as mentioned, and they appear to be expecting another giraffe with a different mom (Johari) soon.

If you are in the NY/NJ/PA area, it's definitely worth a trip. Near Binghamton NY.

@lh8990 - I agree. We made the trip up there from Atlanta in 2017, after Tajiri was born. I have family in the Scranton area, so we stayed near there. Easy trip up to the park. I'm so glad we went

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

Drythe — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 00:02:40 GMT

@Greeneyedlady21

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful bundle,

I would have missed it without you.

Any bit of joy is just magic. 💙

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

on the bay — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 23:50:22 GMT

@Greeneyedlady21

Thank you for this beautiful story and incredible picture of the little one and his mom!

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

Greeneyedlady21 — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 23:55:29 GMT

@on the bay I believe that's actually his Dad in the picture

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

Pearlee — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 17:23:31 GMT

@Mz iMac wrote:
If that baby was born in the wild, he/she would not havd had a snowball chance in hell of surviving. Good thing it was born in a protected enviroment.

@Mz iMac "...not a snowball chance in hell..."

😄😄😄 Was that an intentional pun regarding the white giraffe?

Re: White Baby Kangaroo

michmi — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 17:29:31 GMT

Thank you to those who provided info on their trips to the zoo. Jordan and the staff there IMO take excellent care of their animals and I have always been of the opinion that they will spare no expense in housing and feeding them all.