Matschie's Tree Kangaroo

About the Matschie's tree-kangaroo

Matschie's tree-kangaroo, also known as the Huon tree-kangaroo, is native to the Huon Peninsula of northeastern New Guinea, within Papua New Guinea, where the indigenous population calls it a Boongarry. Its scientific name honors German biologist Paul Matschie. Much smaller than Australia's familiar red kangaroo, it measures 20 to 32 inches (51–81 cm) in body-and-head length; adult males weigh 20 to 25 lb (9–11 kg) and adult females weigh 15 to 20 lb (7–9 kg).

The animal's coloring is distinctive: golden fur covers its underside, the lower parts of its limbs, its ear edges, belly, and tail, while the rest of its body is chestnut brown with a darker stripe running down the back. Its face shows a variable mix of yellow and white hairs. Like all tree-kangaroos, it has a dorsal hair whorl — a patch of hair that radiates outward in multiple directions, located anywhere from the shoulders down to the tail. It is similar in size and color to the Doria's tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus dorianus) and is closely related to the Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus goodfellowi), once considered a subspecies of the Matschie's.

Built for life in the canopy, the Matschie's tree-kangaroo has small, bear-like ears with a limited sense of hearing, recurved claws on its forelimbs, and soft pads on its hind limbs for gripping branches. Of all Dendrolagus species, it is the best vertical climber and has more muscular strength than the others. Its forelimbs are flexible enough to give it moderate dexterity, and its feet show an unusual digit arrangement: the fourth and fifth toes are enlarged, the first toe is absent, and the second and third are fused. Researchers have found that it can walk bipedally, and its tail — roughly as long as its head and body combined — helps it balance while moving through trees. Sexual dimorphism is minimal, with males and females close in size.

Behavior and diet

Matschie's tree-kangaroos are arboreal, spending most of their time in trees and coming down only occasionally to feed. They are strong hoppers, capable of leaping up to 30 feet (9 m). In the wild they tend to live alone or in small groupings — often a mother with her offspring and a single male — usually with an even sex ratio. They appear wary of humans, growing agitated in the presence of people, which makes them difficult to observe in the field. They spend about 14 to 15 hours a day sleeping and resting, and they defend and scent-mark their home territories.

Rather than sweating, this tree-kangaroo licks its forearms and relies on evaporation to cool itself, and its metabolic rate helps it hold a stable body temperature through seasonal swings. The species is mainly folivorous, regularly eating leaves, sap, insects, flowers, and nuts; captive animals also take apples, carrots, lettuce, bananas, kale, potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, celery, corn, and yams, and have even been recorded eating chickens. Because its high-fiber diet takes time to process, it may eat for only one to two hours a day, spending the rest resting and digesting in a large forestomach that works much like a ruminant's, breaking down tough plant material before it passes to a glandular hind stomach for absorption.

Breeding in captivity can occur at any time of year. Females initiate mating on the ground, touching noses and clicking tongues with a male; despite initial resistance, hissing, and swatting, the female permits mounting within about ten minutes, and copulation can last up to an hour. Gestation lasts roughly 44 days — the longest of any marsupial — and a joey first pokes its head from the pouch around 22 weeks, begins feeding independently at 28 weeks, and leaves the pouch for good around 41 weeks. Females can conceive again almost immediately after a joey vacates the pouch, since the species has no delayed implantation.

Range and habitat

This tree-kangaroo is restricted to the Huon Peninsula of Papua New Guinea and the nearby island of Umboi, where it is likely an introduced rather than native resident. It lives in deciduous forest and tropical rainforest between 1,000 and 3,000 meters (3,300 and 9,800 ft) in elevation, and an individual's home range covers roughly 25 hectares.

Much of the Huon Peninsula's forest has been cleared for open, grassy land, shrinking the forested habitat this species depends on. Some Matschie's tree-kangaroos are hunted locally for meat and fur, while oil drilling, logging, and land clearing for agriculture add further pressure on the remaining habitat.

Conservation status

The IUCN classified Matschie's tree-kangaroo as endangered in 1996. Habitat loss from forest clearing is a major threat, alongside hunting and continued logging and agricultural expansion across the Huon Peninsula.

Conservation efforts run on multiple fronts. North America's Tree Kangaroo Species Survival Plan, established in 1991, coordinates a captive population that peaked at 90 animals in 1997 before declining to 53 in recent years. The Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program, based at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and supported by Conservation International, studies and conserves tree-kangaroo species in Papua New Guinea while also supporting local schools, medical care, and habitat protection. In 2009, the 760 km2 (290 sq mi) YUS Conservation Area was established in the northern Huon Peninsula to protect the species' habitat, and some village communities, such as Yawan, have set aside land specifically for the animal's preservation. Researchers have also radio-collared wild individuals to study home ranges and habitat needs, and genetic studies comparing captive and wild populations have found that captive Matschie's tree-kangaroos have notably lower genetic diversity than their wild counterparts.