Cobar

Western Grey Kangaroo

Macropus fuliginosus

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Cobar was brought to Dubbo to Taronga Western Plains Zoo in January of 1993. A member of the public found her in her mother's pouch at Cobar after the mother had been hit and killed by a car. Cobar weighed less than 3kg on arrival at Dubbo and was named after the area in which she was found.

A Zookeeper at Dubbo first started hand-raising Cobar until she was transferred to Taronga Zoo when a Veterinary Nurse took over caring for her. The carer would take Cobar home each night and during the day she lived in the Australian Mammal Division Office. Cobar was provided with a pouch bag lined with blankets which acted as a substitute for Cobar's natural mother's pouch. Every four hours, the carer bottle -ed Cobar with a special milk for kangaroos. However, the parenting duties did not stop there. Kangaroos lick their baby's bottom to stimulate them to go to the toilet, so her carer had to regularly rub Cobar's bottom with a moist cotton ball to toilet her. She did this just before each bottle of milk feed.

Cobar was a pleasant joey who was very easy to hand-raise. She is also very affectionate and loves attention and still lives at the Education Centre of Taronga Zoo.
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