This heart-warming footage shows a zoo worker taking care of an adorable baby kangaroo in a makeshift pouch after his mother rejected him.

The footage was posted to social media by Kobe Animal Kingdom in Japan and has since racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

The zoo said joey Kogoro was found alone on the floor of the red kangaroo enclosure after he was born prematurely on 18th July last year (2022).

Staff tried to put him in his mum’s pouch but were unable to, so they started feeding him themselves with milk in baby bottles.

As red kangaroos leave the pouch for good at around eight months, staff at the zoo have been keeping young Kogoro in a makeshift pouch, as seen here.

Kogoro, born to mum Mitsuba and dad Sea, is said to be healthy.

He lives in a bag hung in a warm enclosure, and the zoo says he sleeps well after drinking milk.

The red kangaroo (Macropus rufus) is the largest living marsupial.

Its body length can reach up to 1.6 metres (5′ 3″), and it can weigh up to 80 kilogrammes (176 lb).

Red kangaroos are herbivores and are distributed across mainland Australia. They are plentiful in the wild.