Community Chat

[Greeneyedlady21]

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.

[gidgetgh]

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.

[4kitties]

Awwwwwww!!!  A cutie patootie!💕💕

[gidgetgh]

 

[Spurt]

sooooooooooooooooooooooo cute! 

[Mz iMac]

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.

[michmi]

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!

[qvcfreak]

So adorable, thanks for sharing 

[Boomernichols]

@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!

[lh8990]

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.