Endangered
Matschie's tree-kangaroo
Dendrolagus matschiei
Matschie's tree-kangaroo, also known as the Huon tree-kangaroo, is a tree-kangaroo native to the Huon Peninsula of northeastern New Guinea island, within the nation of Papua New Guinea.
Appearance
A distinctive trait of all tree-kangaroos is the dorsal hair whorl they possess. The rest of its body is a chestnut brown colour, with a darker stripe down its back. Their faces show a variable array of yellow and white hairs.
With a body and head length of 20 to 32 inches (51–81 cm), Matschie's tree-kangaroos are much smaller than Australia's well-known red kangaroo.
Range and habitat
Matschie's tree-kangaroos are restricted to the Huon peninsula of Papua New Guinea, a subdivision of Tumbanan faunal province, and are the only tree-kangaroos found there. Even so, most scientists believe the tree-kangaroos were introduced onto this island and were not originally found there. The Matschie’s tree-kangaroo prefer to live in deciduous forests and tropical rainforests due to their largely arboreal nature.
Matschie's tree-kangaroo, also known as the Huon tree-kangaroo, is a tree-kangaroo native to the Huon Peninsula of northeastern New Guinea island, within the nation of Papua New Guinea.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
As arboreal animals, they spend most of their time in the trees and come down occasionally to feed. In captivity, the tree-kangaroos can get pregnant at any time of the year and are known to breed well.
In crisis
Under the IUCN classification, Matschie's tree-kangaroo is an endangered species. The indigenous population refers to it as a Boongarry. In 1996, the IUCN classified Matschie's tree-kangaroos as endangered animals.
The numbers of tree-kangaroos in captivity in North America have been recorded over the years, and in 1997, the Matschie's tree-kangaroos' population reached a maximum of 90 animals, but it has declined to 53 in the past few years in these conservation zoos. The Woodland Park Zoo is very keen on helping the Matschie's population grow and develop, and they have also seen that mothers develop their young better if they are removed from the males after mating.
Matschie's tree-kangaroo is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Matschie's tree-kangaroo, Wikidata item Q209174. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
