When I remember Australia, the first thing that comes to mind is the Kangaroo and I am sure that is the first thing or may be the second that comes to your mind when you think Australia. Kangaroos are a sight to behold and their big bodies can be intimidating for anyone but do you know that kangaroos aren't the only Marsupial living in Australia or any where else in the world?
In the Rain forest are another type of marsupial called the Tree Kangaroos. These kangaroos do not have the face of the regular kangaroo, rather they have the face that resembles that of a hare or a small beer without the long ears and an upper body part that resembles that of a monkey.
There are 15 species of Tree Kangaroos which are natives to Australia and New Guinea with 2 of the species, the Bennett's Tree kangaroo and the Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroo native to Australia, while the 13 other species are native to the Rain forest of New Guinea. These animals are an endangered specie with the Wondiwoi Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus mayri) being the rarest and critically endangered of them all.
To understand how rare it is to find the Wondiwoi Tree Kangaroo, it was first seen in New Guinea in 1928 and no one saw it again until 2017 when it was later seen by Micheal Smith who was hiking and taking pictures of things around him. He noticed the strange but attractive animal on a tree and took pictures of it. Since he didn't know anything about Marsupials, he just left and took the pictures back to England. It was when he returned to England that he knew that he had just taking pictures of a near extinct specie of Marsupials.
Other species of the Tree Kangaroos are the Goodfellow's tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus goodfellowi), Matschie's Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei), The golden-mantled tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus pulcherrimus), The tenkile or Scott's tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus scottae), Ursine tree-kangaroo ( Dendrolagus ursinus), Dingiso (Dendrolagus mbaiso), Grizzled tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus inustus), Lowlands tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus spadix), Doria's tree-kangaroo, and Seri's tree-kangaroo (D. stellarum).
Tree Kangaroos are of the Macropodidae Family but about 5 millions years ago Macropods began to climb trees and over the years, different species that has been able to adapt to living on tree appeared and they came into existence. Unlike their kangaroo cousin, they have flexible limbs and tails, rotatable ankles and long claws.
They feed on plants majorly but also supplement their feeding with birds and eggs making them omnivores. Their infant spend 5 months in the mother's Pouch before coming out to live after which they start to learn to live on trees. These animals are solitary animals and would only come out during mating seasons alone.
These animals are going into extinction and one of the major culprit is Human activity which causes them to lose their habitat. Activities such as Deforestation, Poaching, fragmentation, and habitat destruction are part of the reasons why these animals have their life threatened. Their numbers are so little that if the conservation initiative by some conservative groups weren't in action, they would have been gone by now. An example of such tree kangaroo is the Tenkile Tree Kangaroo which had a population of less than 100 in the year 2001 is now experiencing increased population thanks to conservation groups.
We need to do a lot to keep these animals as well as several other animals safe so we do not lose them. Keeping them safe starts with us being aware and spreading this awareness to people. Also stopping deforestation and uncontrolled hunting will do a lot to solve this problem.
READ MORE
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/rare-wondiwoi-tree-kangaroo-discovered-mammals-animals
https://www.ifaw.org/international/animals/tree-kangaroos
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/matschies-tree-kangaroo
https://www.zoo.org/tkcp/tkcpfacts
https://wwf.panda.org/discover/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/tree_kangaroo/
https://tenkile.com/tenkile-tree-kangaroo-2/
