Making A Difference

New York Zoo Welcomes 'Extremely Rare' White Kangaroo; 'Not Your Standard Red'

A Facebook post uploaded by the Animal Adventure Park in New York revealed that one of their red kangaroos gave birth to an 'extremely rare' male joey with white fur

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New York Zoo Welcomes 'Extremely Rare' White Kangaroo; 'Not Your Standard Red'
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Revealed through a Facebook post, Animal Adventure Park in New York said that one of their kangaroos have given birth to an "extremely rare" male joey with white fur! The white joey was born a few months ago to a red mother kangaroo but his white colour was observed only when he was removed from his mother's pouch for a full inspection. 

"This is not your standard red kangaroo!", said the Animal Adventure Park in a Facebook post which is being insanely loved by various social media users. 

"Red kangaroos are born the size of your thumbnail, and do much of their development in mom's pouch, outside of the womb. At the age of approximately 4-5 months, we do our first full "pull", removing the baby from mom's pouch for a full inspection and medical review, and then return the joey to mom's pouch for her to raise', said the zoo. 

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The zoo believes that the white kangaroo is a leucistic male joey, which means a partial loss of pigmentation. This condition is different from albinism because as the zoo says, its eyes are black and "not your normally anticipated red-eyed albino mutation".

The rarity of this occurrence is so rare that it has never been seen in the United States, said the zoo in New York. "We are not aware of any leucistic red kangaroo in the United States; proving just how rare this occurrence is!". 

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