Megacute baby flying-fox has some Maggie time: this is Sequoia

Sequoia is approaching 10 weeks old now. Tomorrow she will be going to minicreche where she will start the next step of her journey to release. She has been in care for 2 months since being found on the body of her electrocuted mother under powerlines. She’s been a “no trouble“ baby to care for - just fitting easily into daily life, feeding well and growing consistently. Babies who are “no trouble“ are often the babies who are in trouble, just not showing it. When Hungry Hippo was still in care with me, Hippo decided that Sequoia could meet her unfulfilled emotional needs so Hippo would come over and hang onto Sequoia or put her wing around her and constrict her movements. It sounds really cute, but this behaviour is an abnormal codependency which can damage both babies. It’s the precursor to a behaviour we call “Sucking“ where one baby sucks on another to get their need for emotional and physical closeness met. Sequoia was the “suckee“ in this r