20 March 2013
SHE'S French, she's cute and she's got her man.
Kiunga the Goodfellow's tree kangaroo has been brought to Adelaide Zoo from a zoo in France as part of an international captive breeding program to increase genetic diversity.
The two-year-old has been paired with Makali - a male of similar age - and they are getting on famously, keeper Nathan Langley said. "They've definitely taken a liking to one another. They sit up together and follow each other around the exhibit."
Mr Langley said they were expected to breed later this year.
"That's what this new little girl's here to do, to produce lots of young," he said.
Goodfellow's tree kangaroos are an endangered species native to Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya. Kiunga is named after a port town in PNG.
Mr Langley said Kiunga remained "pretty nervous" after her move but was becoming used to being touched and relaxing more, despite living opposite the lion enclosure. "It's a pretty full-on thing for a tree roo to be facing a lion," he said.
The two are being trained to do activities such as touching their noses to the end of a painted stick, to keep them mentally active and receive food rewards.
"Sweet potato, corn and broccoli are some of their favourites," Mr Langley said. "It's just a way for us to get them out and about in the exhibit and stand on scales and that sort of thing."
