TWINS TO KANGAROO

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 80, 4 April 1944, Page 5

TWINS TO KANGAROO

BORN IN PHILADELPHIA NEW YORK, March 31. Officials of the Philadelphia Zoo discovered to-day that Susie, a grey kangaroo brought to America from Australia in 1936, had given birth to twins. The discovery was made when either the mother or the other twin ejected one of the joeys from the pouch. . , , Keepers faced with an unusual problem in baby care, made a substitute pouch for the joey from an old sweater lined with cotton. It was the first multiple birth by a marsupial in an American _ zoo. Susie had previously borne six joeys singly. Her mate, Pete, who died in January, was a proficient boxer, who had appeared in exhibition bouts with the former light-heavy weight champion of the world, Tommy Loughran.

The superintendent of the- Taronga Park Zoo, Mr. R. A. Patten said that it was unusual for a kangaroo to have twins, states the Sydney Morning Herald. About five vears ago a kangaroo gave birth to twins at Taronga Park. One died soon after birth, but the other survived. Mr. Patten said it was possible, but \ery improbable, that kangaroos could rear twins.