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Tree Kangaroo

 
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Tree-kangaroos are macropod
Macropod

Macropods are marsupials belonging to the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos, wallaby, tree-kangaroos, pademelons, and several others....
s adapted for life in trees. They are found in the rainforest
Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750?2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests....
s of New Guinea
New Guinea

New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the List of islands by area, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period....
, far northeastern Queensland
Queensland

Queensland is a States and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south....
, and nearby islands, usually in mountainous areas. Although most are found in mountainous areas, several species also occur in lowlands, such as the aptly named Lowlands Tree-kangaroo
Lowlands Tree-kangaroo

The Lowland Tree Kangaroo is a species of marsupial in the Macropodidae family. It is Endemism to Papua New Guinea. It is threatened by habitat loss....
.

s understood that tree-kangaroos evolved from creatures similar to modern kangaroo
Kangaroo

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the Red Kangaroo, the Antilopine Kangaroo, and the Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo of the Macropus genus....
s and wallabies
Wallaby

A wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name....
, as they retain many standard macropod
Macropod

Macropods are marsupials belonging to the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos, wallaby, tree-kangaroos, pademelons, and several others....
 adaptations to life in the plains—notably the massive hind legs and long, narrow feet which allow orthodox macropods to travel fast and economically on the ground.






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Tree-kangaroos are macropod
Macropod

Macropods are marsupials belonging to the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos, wallaby, tree-kangaroos, pademelons, and several others....
s adapted for life in trees. They are found in the rainforest
Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750?2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests....
s of New Guinea
New Guinea

New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the List of islands by area, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period....
, far northeastern Queensland
Queensland

Queensland is a States and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south....
, and nearby islands, usually in mountainous areas. Although most are found in mountainous areas, several species also occur in lowlands, such as the aptly named Lowlands Tree-kangaroo
Lowlands Tree-kangaroo

The Lowland Tree Kangaroo is a species of marsupial in the Macropodidae family. It is Endemism to Papua New Guinea. It is threatened by habitat loss....
.

Evolution

It is understood that tree-kangaroos evolved from creatures similar to modern kangaroo
Kangaroo

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the Red Kangaroo, the Antilopine Kangaroo, and the Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo of the Macropus genus....
s and wallabies
Wallaby

A wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name....
, as they retain many standard macropod
Macropod

Macropods are marsupials belonging to the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos, wallaby, tree-kangaroos, pademelons, and several others....
 adaptations to life in the plains—notably the massive hind legs and long, narrow feet which allow orthodox macropods to travel fast and economically on the ground. Tree-kangaroos have developed exceptionally long tails for balance, and stronger forelimbs for climbing. The feet are shorter and wider, they have longer claws on all feet, and rubbery soles for better grip.

The ancestors of all kangaroos are believed to have been small arboreal marsupials that looked like some of Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
's present-day possum
Possum

A possum is any of about 64 small to medium-sized arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi . The name derives from their resemblance to the opossums of the Americas....
s. The earliest macropods diverged from this line when they descended to the ground and evolved bodies adapted for rapid motion over the earth and rocks. Why the ancestors of the tree-kangaroos returned to the trees is not known.

Anatomy

Tree-kangaroos are slow and clumsy on the ground. They move at about walking pace and hop awkwardly, leaning their body far forward to balance the heavy tail. But in trees they are bold and agile. They climb by wrapping the forelimbs around the trunk of a tree and hopping with the powerful hind legs, allowing the forelimbs to slide. They are expert leapers; 9-metre (29.5 feet) downward jumps from one tree to another have been recorded, and they have the extraordinary ability to jump to the ground from 18 metres (59.0 feet) or more without being hurt.

Diet

Tree-kangaroos feed mostly on leaves and fruit, taken both in trees and on the ground, but other foods are eaten when available, including grain
GRAIN

GRAIN is an international non-governmental organization based in Barcelona, Spain, which works toward sustainable agriculture. It was formed upon the realization that the genetic diversity of the world's food crops are being drastically eliminated....
, flowers, sap
Sap

Sap may refer to:* Plant sap, the fluid transported in xylem cells or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant* Baton #Blackjack, another word for a blackjack, an easily concealed Club ....
, bark
BARK

BARK was an early Electromechanics. BARK was built using standard phone relays, implementing a 32-bit binary machine and could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms....
, egg
Egg (biology)

In most birds and reptiles, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. To enable incubation the egg is usually kept within a favourable temperature range as it nourishes and protects the growing embryo....
s and young birds. Their teeth are adapted for tearing leaves rather than cutting grass. They have large stomachs that function as fermentation vats in a manner similar to those of eutheria
Eutheria

Eutheria are a group of mammals consisting of placental mammals plus all extinct mammals that are more closely related to living placentals than to living marsupials ....
n ruminant
Ruminant

Physiologically, a ruminant is a mammal of the order Artiodactyla that digests plant-based food by initially softening it within the animal's first stomach, known as the rumen, then regurgitating the semi-digested mass, now known as cud, and chewing it again....
 herbivore
Herbivore

Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism, known as an herbivore, heterotrophs principally autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria....
s, in which bacteria break down fibrous leaves and grasses. Although the arrangement of the stomach compartments in kangaroos is quite different than eutherian ruminants, the end result is similar.

Species

The following species are assigned to the genus Dendrolagus:
  • Grizzled Tree-kangaroo
    Grizzled Tree-kangaroo

    The Grizzled Tree-kangaroo is a species of marsupial in the Macropodidae family. It is found in foothill forest in northern and western New Guinea....
    , Dendrolagus inustus; northern and western New Guinea, plus the island of Yapen
    Yapen

    Yapen is an island of western New Guinea, Indonesia. The Yapen Strait separates it and the Biak Islands to the north. It is in Cenderawasih Bay....
    , and possibly Salawati
    Salawati

    Salawati is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in West Papua , Indonesia. Its area is 1623 km?. The other main islands in the archipelago are Misool, Batanta and Waigeo....
     and Waigeo
    Waigeo

    Waigeo is an Islands of Indonesia in West Papua province of eastern Indonesia. The island is also known as Amberi, or Waigiu.It is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat Islands archipelago, between Halmahera and about 65 km to the northwest coast of New Guinea....
    .
  • Lumholtz's Tree-kangaroo
    Lumholtz's Tree-kangaroo

    Lumholtz's Tree-kangaroo is a heavy-bodied tree-kangaroo found in rain forests of the Atherton Tableland Region of Queensland. Its status is classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN, although local authorities classify it as rare....
    , Dendrolagus lumholtzi; Queensland, Australia.
  • Bennett's Tree-kangaroo
    Bennett's Tree-kangaroo

    Bennett's Tree-kangaroo is a large tree-kangaroo. Males can weigh from 11.5 kg up to almost 14 kg , while the females range between about 8 to 10.6 kg ....
    , Dendrolagus bennettianus; Queensland, Australia.
  • Ursine Tree-kangaroo
    Ursine Tree-kangaroo

    The Ursine Tree-kangaroo is a species of marsupial in the Macropodidae family. It is Endemism to Indonesia. It is threatened by habitat loss....
    , Dendrolagus ursinus; Vogelkop, New Guinea.
  • Matschie's Tree-kangaroo
    Matschie's Tree-kangaroo

    Matschie's Tree-kangaroo , also known as the Huon Tree-kangaroo belongs to the family Macropodidae, which includes about 55 species of kangaroos, wallabies and their relatives....
    , Dendrolagus matschiei; Huon Peninsula
    Huon Peninsula

    Huon Peninsula is a large peninsula in Morobe Province, eastern Papua New Guinea, at . It is named after France explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec....
    , New Guinea.
  • Doria's Tree-kangaroo
    Doria's Tree-kangaroo

    Doria's Tree-kangaroo is a tree-kangaroo found in montane forests of New Guinea at elevations between 600-3650m. It is mostly solitary and nocturnal....
    , Dendrolagus dorianus; western, central, and southeastern New Guinea.
  • Seri's Tree-kangaroo, Dendrolagus stellarum; highlands of west-central New Guinea.
  • Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo
    Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo

    Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo , also called the Ornate Tree Kangaroo, belongs to the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos, wallabies and their relatives, and the genus Dendrolagus, with eleven other species....
    , Dendrolagus goodfellowi; central and southeastern New Guinea.
  • Golden-mantled Tree-kangaroo
    Golden-mantled Tree-kangaroo

    The Golden-mantled Tree-kangaroo, Dendrolagus pulcherrimus is a species of tree-kangaroo native and endemic to montane forests of northern New Guinea....
    , Dendrolagus pulcherrimus; Foja
    Foja Mountains

    The Foja Mountains or Foja Range is located just north of the Mamberamo river basin in Papua , Indonesia. The mountains rise to 2,193 meters , and contain more than 3,000 square kilometres of old growth tropical rainforest in the interior part of the range....
     and Torricelli Mountains
    Torricelli Mountains

    Torricelli Mountains is a mountain range in Sandaun Province, northwestern Papua New Guinea, at . The highest peak in the range is Mount Sulen at 1650 meters....
    , New Guinea.
  • Lowlands Tree-kangaroo
    Lowlands Tree-kangaroo

    The Lowland Tree Kangaroo is a species of marsupial in the Macropodidae family. It is Endemism to Papua New Guinea. It is threatened by habitat loss....
    , Dendrolagus spadix; south-western lowlands of Papua New Guinea
    Papua New Guinea

    Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands ....
    .
  • Dingiso
    Dingiso

    The Dingiso , also known as Bondegezou, is a species of tree-kangaroo native and endemic to Western New Guinea of Indonesia....
    , Dendrolagus mbaiso; highlands of west-central New Guinea
  • Tenkile
    Tenkile

    The Tenkile , also known as Scott's Tree-kangaroo, is a species of marsupial in the Macropodidae family.It is Endemism to Papua New Guinea....
    , Dendrolagus scottae; Sandaun Province, New Guinea.
Kanga2031
The taxonomy
Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the practice and science of classification. The word comes from the Greek language ', taxis and ', nomos .Taxonomies, or taxonomic schemes, are composed of taxonomic units known as taxa , or kinds of things that are arranged frequently in a hierarchical structure....
, especially of the Dendrolagus dorianus and Dendrolagus goodfellowi superspecies
Superspecies

Superspecies is a group of at least two more or less distinctive species with approximately parapatric distributions. Not all cryptic species complexes are superspecies, and vice versa, but many are....
, is complex. The taxon
Taxon

A taxon or taxonomic unit is a name designating an organism or a group of organisms. In biological nomenclature according to Carl Linnaeus, a taxon is assigned a taxonomic rank and can be placed at a particular level in a systematic hierarchy reflecting evolutionary relationships....
 stellarum was described as a subspecies
Subspecies

In biology, subspecies is the taxonomic rank immediately subordinate to a species. A subspecies is a taxonomic group which is less distinct than the Common descent or species from which it originates....
 of the D. dorianus, but some recent authorities have treated it as a species based on its absolute diagnostability. It has further been suggested that the taxon
Taxon

A taxon or taxonomic unit is a name designating an organism or a group of organisms. In biological nomenclature according to Carl Linnaeus, a taxon is assigned a taxonomic rank and can be placed at a particular level in a systematic hierarchy reflecting evolutionary relationships....
 mayri, known only from a single old specimen, may represent a valid species, but as it is virtually unknown, most authorities have retained it as a subspecies of D. dorianus. The case for pulcherrimus is comparable to that of stellarum. It was initially described as a subspecies of Dendrolagus goodfellowi, but recent authorities have elevated it to species status based on its absolute diagnostability. A population of the Tenkile recently discovered from the Bewani Mountains
Bewani Mountains

Bewani Mountains is a mountain range in northwestern Papua New Guinea, at . Highest point of the mountains is at 1,960 m. As other mountain ranges in Papua New Guinea it is home to many rare species of fauna and flora and is highly biodiverse....
 may represent an undescribed subspecies.

See also

  • Fauna of Australia
    Fauna of Australia

    The fauna of Australia consists of a huge variety of unique animals; some 83% of mammals, 89% of reptiles, 90% of fish and insects and 93% of amphibians that inhabit the continent are Endemism to Australia....
  • Fauna of New Guinea
    Fauna of New Guinea

    The fauna of New Guinea comprises a large number of species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates and amphibians.As the world?s largest and highest tropical island, New Guinea occupies less than 0.5% of world's land surface, yet supports a high percentage of global biodiversity....


External links

  • ARKive -