Yooranah clinging to mum Alinga

He was born the size of a jelly bean and is weighed on "baking scales"

The UK’s first ever koala joey is a boy, keepers at Edinburgh Zoo have announced.

Although he was born in May, keepers have now checked his sex and have named him Yooranah, an indigenous Australian word meaning “loving”.

He was the size of a jelly bean when he was born, and was hairless and blind.

Yooranah currently weighs a petite 632 grams has to be weighed on a digital scale similar to ones used to measure baking ingredients.

Regular weigh-ins are being carried out now that Yooranah is spending most of his time out of the pouch and clinging to mum Alinga’s belly. 

During his weigh in, Yooranah is placed onto a plush toy koala from the Zoo’s gift shop, to give him something to cling on to for stability as well as comfort.

He is putting on around 10 to 11 grams per day and will eventually grow to weigh around 6.5 kilograms (or 14 pounds). Yooranah will move onto the adult’s scale when he is much larger.  

Donald Gow, senior keeper for koalas, primates and hoofstock at Edinburgh Zoo, said: “It’s very exciting to watch Yooranah as he grows.

"This is the first time that a koala joey has been born in the UK so it is amazing to see him develop from being pink and hairless into a fully-formed, if tiny, koala.

"At the moment he seems to be all ears. He has also starting to develop his own personality, he can be quite feisty like his mother Alinga and father Goonaroo.”

Images by Edinburgh Zoo