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Colorado’s Mikaela Shiffrin wins slalom to break 8-year Olympic drought

Denver Zoo welcomes first endangered kangaroo joey

By February 12, 2026 | updated 6 days ago

A newly-born endangered Huon tree kangaroo joey peeps out of his mother, Pearl's, pouch. (Courtesy of the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance)

An endangered kangaroo joey born at The Denver Zoo last summer has begun peeking out of his mother’s pouch, zoo officials said.

The first offspring of parents Pearl and Tristan in late July, the endangered Huon tree joey, the first of its kind born at the zoo, was born in July the size of a jellybean, a normal occurrence for marsupials, according to a bulletin from the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance.

“Our little joey is doing well; we’ve been seeing him peek out more and more in the last week just checking things out,” said Thea McCormack, an animal care specialist, in the bulletin. “Tristan and Pearl are first-time parents and this is the first tree kangaroo joey for our zoo, so we are absolutely over the moon with excitement.”

In the months since the joey’s birth, the zoo’s Down Under Animal Care Team has been monitoring the joey’s development in Pearl’s pouch using a specialized scope, according to the bulletin. The joey will continue taking short excursions outside the pouch in the coming months, a sign he’s becoming stronger and more curious, until he leaves it for good.

Huon tree kangaroos are native to mountainous rainforests in Papua New Guinea, and have strong forelimbs and tails to climb and balance on trees, according to the bulletin.

Hunting and other losses of their habitats have caused their populations to decline and have placed the species in an endangered status.

Michael Braithwaite

Reporter

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