Animals & family · News English
A baby wombat grows up
Meet a little animal with a special place to grow.
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Read the story, then try the activities.
A small new animal
Where is the baby? Where does she grow?
1Toronto Zoo in Canada has a baby wombat. The zoo shared news about her on 23 September. She is a girl. She is a southern hairy-nosed wombat. That is one kind of wombat.
2A baby wombat is called a joey. At first, she grows in her mother’s pouch. A pouch is like a warm pocket on the mother’s body. The baby drinks her mother’s milk.
3The zoo says this baby is starting to spend more time outside the pouch. She is learning about the world around her.
4Wild southern hairy-nosed wombats live in Australia. They eat grass and dig homes under the ground. This baby lives in Canada with her mother.
Original teaching summary. Language examples and model answers are practice, not news quotations.
Word help · Three useful words
Read the meanings and examples. Choose one word to use in your own sentence.
baby
a very young child or animal
The baby is small.
mother
a female parent
The baby is with her mother.
pouch
a pocket on an animal’s body for its baby
The baby is in the pouch.
Check your reading · Three questions
Choose one answer for every question, then check. You can change an answer and check again.
Useful English: he, she and it
Use he for a boy and she for a girl. We often use it for an animal. When we know the animal is female, we can use she.
Practice: This is my brother. He is happy. This is my sister. She is happy. This is a cat. It is small.
Try: The baby is a girl. ___ is small.
Answer: She.
Name a person or an animal. Say one more sentence.
Model and help
Example: This is my sister. She is kind.
Alone: try a second example. With a teacher: ask: Who is this?
Speak: an animal you like
Speak for 20–30 seconds. Use: I like ___. It is ___. It has ___.
Model answer
Example: I like my cat. It is small. It has green eyes. It is very nice.
This is a practice example, not a news fact.
Alone: repeat with another animal. With a teacher: ask: What colour is it?
Mastery check · Three questions
Choose one answer for every question, then check. You can change an answer and check again.
Sources and reporting date
News report: Toronto Zoo, 23 September 2026; exact time not supplied. Checked 25 September. The animal information page is background. This lesson focuses on wombat development, not the naming vote or visitor availability.
- Toronto Zoo: news about the wombat joey
23 September 2026, as dated in the zoo press archive. - Toronto Zoo: southern hairy-nosed wombat
Background: pouch development, milk, grass, burrows and Australian habitat. - Toronto Zoo: 2026 press archive
Confirms the original report date.