New female koala feels at home at Leipzig Zoo

The newly arrived female koala has settled in well at Leipzig Zoo. "Our new female Erlinga has been here at Leipzig Zoo for a good week now and, to our delight, everything is going just as we imagined," zookeeper Philipp Hünemeyer told the German Press Agency on Thursday. The two-year-old animal came to Leipzig from Duisburg Zoo last week.

According to the zoo, the transfer followed a recommendation from the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for the breeding of endangered species, which includes the koala. Together with the three-year-old male koala Yuma, Erlinga will soon provide for offspring: from the age of around three years, a female koala can bear babies, explained Hünemeyer.

There are three koalas in total at Leipzig Zoo. The new arrival Erlinga shares the enclosure with the six-year-old female Mandie. According to Leipzig Zoo, Mandie has already successfully raised a cub in 2020.