Monty the Longleat koala celebrates first birthday

The first male southern koala to be born in Europe has turned one.

Monty was born at Longleat in Wiltshire in 2022, and his keepers said they will be celebrating the "huge milestone."

"It's not easy to come up with a birthday cake as their diet is entirely made up of eucalyptus leaves but we'll be sure to spoil him along with his amazing mum Maisie," said keeper Jon Ovens.

A party will be held at the weekend to celebrate Monty's big day.

Monty spent the first three months living inside his mother's pouch, and is still largely dependent on Maisie.

In his first few months, he also lived off 'pap' - a liquefied form of Maisie's faeces which gave him the microbes he needed to digest eucalyptus leaves.

A plantation of eucalyptus trees is now growing at Longleat to feed him and his family.

The koalas are kept there in a partnership with the South Australia Government, to support conservation for the wild population in Australia.

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