KHON KAEN, 24 August 2015 – Khon Kaen Zoo has officially introduced its newest member, a fifth white wallaby, and has invited the public to name the little mammal and win a cash prize.
Acting Khon Kaen Zoo Director, Thanachon Kensingh remarked that the animal’s debut came in the auspicious period of Her Majesty the Queen’s 83rd birthday anniversary. He said the white male wallaby is now 7-8 months old, saying that the little animal was earlier concealed in its mother’s pouch. Recently it became more independent and is now ready for public exposure.
In celebration of the arrival of the new member of the zoo community, Khon Kaen Zoo is inviting the public to enter a naming contest for the baby wallaby, known as a joey. The winner of the contest will receive a prize of 10,000 baht, he announced, adding that the winner will be named on December 5, 2015, which is national Father’s Day.
A wallaby is a small- or mid-sized macropod found in Australia and New Guinea. It belongs to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and sometimes the same genus, but kangaroos are specifically categorized into the six largest species of the family. The term wallaby is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo, that has not been designated otherwise.
