A wildlife park on the New South Wales Central Coast is set to unveil its first baby quokka.
The marsupials, listed as being vulnerable to extinction, are mostly found on Rottnest Island off the coast of Perth in Western Australia.
Mammal keeper Andrew Daly, from the Australian Reptile Park, said parents Basil and Coco arrived at the park a year ago, and the joey was probably born in April.
"So we started seeing breeding behaviours in early March, and in terms of the joey coming along it's probably two or three weeks away from its head starting to pop out of the pouch," he said.
"Quokkas are famous for being the world's friendliest animals, they've always got that slight little smile on their face.
"I've been to Rottnest Island myself and the quokkas there are very friendly, but they're very used to people and unfortunately the people there do feed them.
"But typically in less touristy areas they're quite shy … and they're threatened by introduced predators such as foxes and cats."
Mr Daly said the sex of the joey was not yet known and it was yet to be named.
But he said it was hoped the new arrival might soon have some more company.
"Well, we do have another female in the yard so hopefully with this joey coming along our male Basil will turn his attention to the other female quokka and we'll have a half brother or half sister running around in the not-too-distant future."
