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TACOMA, Wash. - When a baby wallaby's mother died of a bacterial infection last month, a zoo biologist volunteered to become its foster mother.
A.J., the orphaned Parma wallaby, grew accustomed to Jennifer Donovan's touch and smell. Donovan fashioned a makeshift pouch to make the 7-month-old feel comfortable, but she needed a better way to carry the wallaby around.
So, Donovan, a 34-year-old senior staff biologist at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, called her own mother, Toni, and told her to start sewing.
The result was a fleece-lined "joey pouch" Donovan hangs around her neck.
She feeds A.J. formula with a syringe because he refused to eat from a bottle. His weight has doubled to about 3.5 pounds since his mother, Alkina, died May 5. A.J. is about a foot long from nose to rump, plus a 12-inch tail. Average height for adult Parma wallabies is about 1•À? feet tall.
Parma wallabies come from the forests in the southeast corner of Australia. At one time they were believed to be extinct, until some were found in the 1960s. They carry their young in pouches and use their long, powerful tails for balance and hopping.
Donovan tucks A.J. into the pouch for part of the day while she makes her rounds at the zoo. And she shows up on her days off to care for A.J.
"I've never seen anybody go to these lengths to help an animal get through its childhood," said zoo spokeswoman Carolyn Cox.