It’s a girl! At long last she’s appeared – the first Goodfellow’s Tree Kangaroo joey born in captivity in more than 20 years at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo.

Native to Papua New Guinea, the tree kangaroo is classified as endangered due to the loss of its natural habitat.

But a global breeding program hopes to change all that, one joey at a time.

The unnamed baby was born in September last year, but she has only just begun peeking out from her mother Qwikila’s pouch.

The first-time mother arrived in Sydney from Belfast Zoo in January 2013.

She joined Taronga’s resident male, Parum, and one thing led to another.

Keepers say the joey is a triumph for conservation efforts.

“The keepers were holding their breath when they first found out there was a joey in the pouch,” Taronga Zoo’s Paul Fahy told AAP on Friday.

“It was very exciting when they started seeing the joey poke its head out.”

Taronga Zoo will shortly announce a public naming competition for the joey on social media.