In a cute video released by The Australian Reptile Park, mammal keepers are seen participating in their daily pre-school feeding session where they sit down with each joey for their lunch together!
The pre-school sessions are great enrichment for the new joeys, as not only are they getting one of their many bottle feeds of the day, but they are experiencing new sights and smells from their fellow new joey friends!
The animals currently in attendance at each Pre-school session are six Tasmanian Devil joeys, Ember the koala, Alinta the Yellow-footed rock-wallaby, Eddie the Eclectus parrot and very special guest appearances from two Eastern Quolls and Rufus bettongs from the Australian Reptile Park’s sister charity, Aussie Ark.
All animals are currently being hand-raised by different mammal keepers who are their adoptive ‘mothers’ and once they have grown a bit more, the joeys will eventually be reunited with their animal families at the Australian Reptile Park.
Head of Mammals, Dean Reid commented on the pre-school group: “It’s definitely my favourite time of the day! It’s something myself and all the keepers here look forward to. Not only do we get to look after these gorgeous native Australian animals, but we get to have our own little Mother’s Club at the same time!”
“The animals are all being hand raised-due to having a bit of a rocky start to their lives, all for different reasons, and it’s safe to say we all have our hands full! Looking after baby animals is no easy task, it includes a lot of two in the morning wake up calls! Thankfully, we’re a very strong team and the animals are doing incredibly well and in perfect health. We can’t wait to reintroduce them to their animal families and get a full night’s sleep in a few months!”
The animals are currently acting as ambassadors for their species and will be making appearances throughout the school holidays between feeding times to educate visitors about our incredible Australian wildlife and how visitors can help save them from extinction.
To purchase tickets and for more information, visit www.reptilepark.com.au
