Personnel from Aussie Ark and Australian Reptile Park played matchmakers recently when they introduced a pair of orphaned joeys for a supervised play date.
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Aussie Ark operations manager, Dean Reid and keeper Seleena de Gelder from sister organisation the Australian Reptile Park had their hands well and truly full when they decided to bring together their "adopted" wallaby joeys - Aussie Ark's 'Rocket', a brush-tailed rock wallaby, and 'Matilda' the yellow-footed rock wallaby.
Hand-raising joeys is an intensive process and a crucial step in their social development is that they interact with their own kind to allow the rescued joeys to learn the skills on how to be a part of a mob.
At the beginning of the play date, both joeys were hesitant to interact but after a few minutes they began warming to each other's company and shared their first little hops together.
After a short while of hopping around, both joeys sat down for "lunch" and enjoyed a warm bottle of milk together, and their favourite browse - Rocket's being wattle, and Matilda's being tea-tree.
"By allowing these joeys to engage in supervised playtime, we are providing them with the best possible start in life," Mr Reid said.
"We want them to thrive and be prepared for a successful reintroduction with their kind when the time is right, and Seleena and I are happy to report that they absolutely adored each other."
"It was so rewarding to have the opportunity to bring Matilda and Rocket together," Ms de Gelder said.
"Since both joeys were rescued at such a young age, they unfortunately hadn't socialised with other rock wallabies just yet.
"Now that they're both beginning the weaning process, socialising the pair is critical, so a play date was the perfect idea."
The pair had a rocky start to life, with Rocket unfortunately becoming an orphan at 5.5 months old and Matilda being rescued after her mother could no longer carry her due to a prolapsed pouch.
Thankfully, both joeys are currently being hand-raised with the devoted care of Mr Reid and Ms de Gelder, ensuring their growth progresses in a healthy way and surpasses every milestone they would have achieved if raised naturally by their mothers.
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