Sat, Jul 16, 2022 page3

• Bess makes debut at Koala House as Taipei Zoo touts hand-rearing program

  • By Tsai Ya-hua and Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  Taipei Zoo’s first hand-reared koala, Bess, has made her debut at its Koala House, the zoo said on Thursday.

  Bess is a little underweight — she is 2.5kg at age one year and two months — compared with other female koalas at the same age, but her monthly health checks indicate that she is healthy and growing steadily, the zoo said.

  Her name, which was derived from “blessing,” was chosen by her care team when they began raising the koala, it said.

  

  Bess, a one-year-old koala, is pictured in an undated photograph at Taipei Zoo.

  Photo provided by Taipei Zoo

  Zookeepers began short meetings between Bess and other female koalas in April and May, allowing her time to get used to them, it said.

  After close observation and careful assessment, Bess was allowed to join the main koala group early last month and started living independently about a month later as she got along well with the others, it said.

  Koalas are solitary animals, the zoo said, adding that female koalas are willing to share an enclosure, but they would leave each other alone most of the time.

  

  Zoo workers attend to Bess, a juvenile Koala, at Taipei Zoo in an undated photograph.

  Photo provided by Taipei Zoo

  The team has done a good job raising the koala, and has learned and adjusted during the process, it said.

  The team has kept in touch with specialists at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in Australia, it said.

  The team was relieved to see Bess interacting well with other koalas, the zoo added.
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