Marwell’s latest babies have the pitter patter of tiny paws
Chico and Sharon are meerkats that live at Marwell and are now the proud parents of two new kittens. Carnivores Assistant Section Manager Marc Fox first heard squeaks from inside the meerkat den on 24th March. As they do not regularly appear on the surface until after a few weeks after their birth Marc wasn’t sure how many were in the litter. The whole family are doing well and the youngsters can now be seen regularly playing and grooming each other.
A new little lemur
An Alaotran gentle lemur was born on the 13th April. This critically endangered lemur species lives only in the papyrus and reed beds surrounding Madagascar’s largest lake, Lac Alaotra, from which it takes its name.
Only 8000 acres of their natural habitat remain and in the last five years 30% of the wild population have been lost, leaving just 3000 – 5000 individuals in the wild. This latest birth at Marwell is a valuable addition to the European captive population which provides a ‘safety net’ for their future survival.
Where the gordon bennett did you come from?
Marwell keepers were astonished recently to find an albino Bennett’s wallaby peering out of her mum’s pouch. It is not un-common for albinos to be born in captivity and they have been born at Marwell in the past. However, albino wallabies in the wild are rare with as few as one in 10,000.
The albino was born to regular grey-brown coloured parents and is the first wallaby to be born this year. Ten more joeys with regular grey-brown colouring can also be seen looking out from their mum’s pouches.
Wallabies are simply small kangaroos. The Bennett’s wallaby is the Tasmanian subspecies of the red-necked wallaby of southern and eastern Australia. They live in shrub and brushwood as well as open county, and also live on Tasmania. They like to eat grasses, leaves and herbs.
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