Many, being in Australia and in island countries, saw animals climbing trees, somewhat reminiscent of a kangaroo. But when they asked local residents who they were, they most often did not receive an intelligible answer. Someone who answered that it was Wallaby, someone called them bear kangaroos, someone called tree kangaroos or kangaroos Matches and something else.
Moreover, it is noticeable that these same wallaby are several varieties and outwardly they differ from each other.
The fact that the Wallaby is similar to the kangaroo is quite natural, because they all belong to the family which is called “kangaroo”, which includes one and a half dozen genera. The ancestor of this family is the usual kangaroo. One of the genera is the “tree kangaroo” or according to the scientific Dendrolagus. There are more than a dozen of them.
– Kangaroo Matches, lat. Dendrolagus matschiei – an animal about 60 cm long and weighing about 10 kg. It lives in New Guinea in tropical mountain forests at an altitude of up to 3 thousand meters.
– Bear Kangaroo, lat. Dendrolagus ursinus, the Papuan name for Niai. This wallaby is quite large, up to 1m 20cm long, of which almost half is the tail. It lives in New Guinea in the mountains at an altitude of up to 2 thousand meters. A rare animal.
– Kangaroo Goodfellow, lat. Dendrolagus goodfellowi is a large woody kangaroo. It lives in New Guinea in the mountains of Bismarck, at an altitude of up to 3 thousand meters. Outwardly looks like a kangaroo Matches.
– Gray-haired wood kangaroo, lat Dendrolagus inustus. An animal measuring up to 90 cm and weighing more than 10 kg. Indonesia and Papua New Guinea live in New Guinea, as well as on the islands of Yapen, Waigeo, Misul, Salavati, in mountain tropical forests at an altitude of up to 1400 meters.
– Kangaroo Lumholtz, lat.Dendrolagus lumholtzi. This wallaby is about 60 cm long and weighs up to 7 kg. It lives in the tropical rainforests in northeast Australia in the mountains at an altitude of up to 1600 meters above sea level.
– Kangaroo Bennett, Lat Dendrolagus bennettianus. The animal is up to 75 cm long and weighs up to 13 kg. It lives in one place in Australia, tropical rainforests in northeastern Queensland.
– Kangaroo Doria, lat Dendrolagus dorianus. The largest tree kangaroo: body length up to 78 cm, tail up to 66 cm, weight up to 20 kg. It lives only in the southeast of Papua New Guinea in highland forests, up to 360 m above sea level.
– Dingiso or Bonegezoo, lat Dendrolagus mbaiso. It differs from all kangaroos in its black body color with a white belly. This tree kangaroo spends most of its time on earth. It lives in New Guinea in the mountains, at an altitude of up to 4 thousand meters.
– Dendrolagus pulcherrimus – a wallaby living in New Guinea, in the mountains of Torricelli, province of Sandown, at an altitude of up to 1100 meters above sea level. It is found in the mountains of Foggia in the Indonesian province.
– Dendrolagus stellarum – a large tree kangaroo from the island of New Guinea. Length up to 1.8 m, half of which is the tail. Weight up to 18 kg. Color: the upper part is black or gray-brown, the lower part is almost white.
All of them are united by the fact that they are forest inhabitants, live on trees and eat plant food. They move very easily through trees and vines, and their sharp claws help them. In principle, these are nocturnal animals that sleep on trees in the daytime, and when dark, they descend to the ground. On earth, they move in short leaps and seek food for themselves. Their usual diet is: fruits, ferns, leaves and shoots of plants, they love passion fruit and eucalyptus leaves. In addition, woody kangaroos drink a lot of water.
