Huon Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei), also known as the Matschie's Tree Kangaroo is
a tree kangaroo native to the Huon Peninsula of North Eastern New
Guinea. Under the IUCN classification, Huon Tree Kangaroo is endangered. With a body and head length of 20 to 32 inches, Huon Tree Kangaroo are much smaller than Australia's well-known red kangaroo.
There is no particular season in
which they breed. Gestation lasts 32 days and joeys of captive bred
individuals leave the pouch after 13 ½ months. The average life span of
the Huon Tree Kangaroo in the wild
is unknown, but is at least 14 years. The life span of the kangaroo in a
zoo is about 20 years. The Huon Tree Kangaroo can only be found on the
Huon Peninsula on the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea.
They live in forests that are usually foggy.Unlike other species of
kangaroos, the Huon Tree Kangaroo spends most of its time living in
trees. They even eat and sleep in trees.
The most distinctive trait of
all tree kangaroos is the hair whorl they possess. It is a patch of hair
that goes out in many directions and its location ranges from up near
the shoulders all the way down to the tail. The Huon Tree Kangaroo is
golden on its ventral side, lower parts of its limbs, ear edges, belly,
and tail, and the rest of its body is a chestnut brown color, except for
usually having a dark stripe down its back. Their faces are typically
an array of yellow and white colors. The Huon Tree Kangaroos are similar in color and size to Dendrolagus dorianus, the Doria’s tree kangaroo.
The Huon Tree Kangaroo are mainly folivorous, eating anything from leaves, sap, insects, flowers, and nuts. Since they eat high fiber foods,
they only eat maybe about 1 to 2 hours throughout the day and the other
time of the day they are resting and digesting their food. Their
digestion is similar to that of the ruminants; they have a large, “tubiform forestomach”,
where most of the fermentation and breakdown of tough material takes
place at; in the hind stomach, there is a mucosa lining with many glands
that help absorption begin here. Source
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