Veterinarian has become her surrogate mother and the baby kangaroo is happy being raised by humans hoping she grows up happy, Khya
Khya, an eight-month-old baby kangaroo, is raised by humans inside an artificial pouch at the Guadalajara Zoo (western Mexico), after the mother died of heart problems three months ago.
The veterinarian Alma Ortega for ten weeks became the "surrogate mother" of the kangaroo of the red species, a task that she performs for about 12 hours a day and that means carrying the baby in a bag to make her feel safe and secure. warm.
"There are two things that represent security for her: her pouch and I, so she can be with me but without her pouch, if I put her in one and she gets scared no matter who is with her, what she needs is the protection of her first skin "What is that artificial outer bag, said the manager of the zoo’s" Australian Village ".
Ania, Khya’s mother, passed away in captivity last May almost suddenly. A couple of days before, she stopped caring for her cub – the smallest of her offspring – and went away to die in one of the spaces where she cohabited with other kangaroos.
The zoo vets took charge of feeding and caring for the kangaroo to make it develop as normally as possible. If he had not done so, he would have died or would have growth problems, since no mother kangaroo adopts babies that are not their own, explained the expert.
"There are very affectionate moms, but not so with other babies, the mother kangaroo always has a baby, in her two wombs, in her pouch and outside and that makes it difficult for a mother to adopt another baby, even if a kangaroo that is scared and by mistake he gets into another pouch, that mother is going to react aggressively and hit him, if not even bite him to get him to leave, "he said.
From day one, Ortega played the role of mom for Khya. Play with her, groom her, pamper her, caress her, encourage her to jump, get closer to the other kangaroos, stay close to her and, above all, are her refuge when she feels insecure, nervous or wants to sleep.
When the cub was orphaned she was five and a half months old, which is the equivalent of a six-month-old human baby who needs to be taught everything. Having left her gestation process halfway through without the company of her mother made the puppy insecure and vulnerable, which is why veterinarians consider her to be almost like a premature baby.
So if Khya dares to jump further, or lets the other pups come closer or urinates alone, her human mother celebrates it as if it were her own achievement.
Attentive to what the baby needs, she always has her pouch at hand to receive her and wrap her in her arms. If she’s scared, Ortega knows he should hold her in his arms just like a kangaroo mom would.
In addition to following the directions in a kangaroo rearing procedures manual, Ortega has learned from the other moms in the "Australian Village" about how they raise and "train" their cubs to apply in their dealings with Khya.
"It implies a lot of sacrifice because it absorbs all your time and all your thinking, (its routine) is very changeable and there is always something new, sometimes they are big advances, sometimes small ones, parenting is day by day, without despairing, we cannot pretend to achieve what a kangaroo does with its mother, "he says.
Although the kangaroo and the human mother have grown fond, the veterinary doctor knows that there will be a time when the baby will detach from her side and become independent, a fact that will happen in a few weeks, once Khya interacts normally with the animals. other kangaroos and be encouraged to sleep on the ground next to them.
"She no longer fits in her pouch but she keeps getting into it, she is going to feel so uncomfortable that she is going to force herself to be on the ground, she still has not achieved it, but she already lives a lot with her fellow men, the time will come when she seeks to be with them and not with us, now she does it because we are her protection, but instinct is instinct, she is going to seek to be a kangaroo, "he explained.
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