Baby Koala and Baby Wombat Become ‘Inseparable’ BFFs While Being Cared For
If you need a dose of cuteness to brighten up your day, this video that @News.com.au shared on Facebook on Monday, January 1st is it! The video shows the friendship between two baby animals, and it's simply adorable!
The video starts by introducing us to Albert the koala and Wilbur the wombat, both being handraised by their keepers. We get to see them being bottle fed together (Albert's bottle is tiny!) and since they're about the same age and on the same feeding schedules, they do everything together. The two are now inseparable and are BFFS, and even more like siblings!
Okay can we talk about how beyond cute Wilbur running around at the end of the video was?! He is so small, and I want to play with him...heck I actually want to play with both him and the baby koala too! They are the most adorable besties ever! I wasn't the only one who swooned over all of the cuteness in @News.com.au's video - we all wanted to see more! Because it was posted on New Year's Day, a lot of commenters proclaimed it to be the best video of the year. @Keith Funnel shared, "Best video of the year for cuteness", as did @Paula Hargrave, "Just so gorgeous. Best 2024 video"! But my favorite comment came from @Ranee Clayton-Hill who said, "Aww Kombat!!! Cute couple alert!"
Related: Video of Sleepy Mama Koala Cuddling Her Baby Is Full of So Much Love
Fun Baby Koala and Baby Wombat Facts
I realized after watching this video more times than I care to admit that I have no idea what a wombat is, so I did some research. I thought that the wombat and the koala (both are native to Australia) looked very similar, and it turns out that they are. The wombat is the closest relative to a koala...which might explain why they look so similar.
A-Z Animals helped me understand more about these little guys. Both koalas and wombats are marsupials - meaning at birth babies (called joeys) are not fully developed yet, so mom carries and suckles them in a pouch on her belly (like a kangaroo). Koalas and wombats have one baby at a time, and they are born blind, deaf, and hairless. They are born about the size of a gummy bear and won't see outside of mom's pouch until they are about six months old. The joeys use their sense of smell and touch to learn about their moms and their new world. Since newborns can't eat eucalyptus leaves, they consume their mom's poop (called pap) which provides the baby with eucalyptus proteins that mom has already broken-down to help them grow. Yucky, but effective! At about a year old, the joey will leave mom to start life on its own...literally. They are solitary animals and prefer it that way.
Pretty incredible way to start life! I'll be keeping an eye on Albert and Wilbur - I can't wait to watch them grow up together!
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