Pictures: Edinburgh Zoo’s first female koala joey hugs cuddly toy during health check

The eight-month old koala joey spends most of her time clinging to mum Alinga, so keepers gave her a soft toy to hold on to during this week’s health checks.

Named Kalari, which is inspired by the Aboriginal name meaning daughter, the baby koala is one of the UK’s only Queensland koalas and the first female to be born at the Zoo.

As well as being members of a worldwide koala breeding programme, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland also supports conservation projects in Australia that help to rehabilitate sick and injured koalas and release them back into the wild.

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