Tree Kangaroo Facts and Information
Introduction to Tree Kangaro
The Tree Kangaroo is often defined by some as being cute. As the name inclines, they are small enough to live in trees. There are 14 subspecies of the Tree Kangaroo that have been identified. They can vary significantly in size based on location, food sources, and their subspecies.
The average size can be from 16 to 30 inches long for the Tree Kangaroo. The tail can be another 15 to 34 inches. They often weigh around 30 pounds with the females being less than the males.
Tree Kangaroo Description
The body of the Tree Kangaroo is thick and it can be several shades of brown. They have lighter feet and light areas of the tail. They have a long snout and short ears. They have very short teeth that are sharp so that they can tear off leaves from trees. Like all Kangaroos it features a pouch on the front of the body for carrying young.
| Class | Mammalia |
| Infraclass | Marsupialia |
| Order | Diprotodontia |
| Family | Macropodidae |
| Subfamily | Macropodinae |
| Genus | Dendrolagus |
Tree Kangaroo Distribution
The rainforests of New Guineais where most of the Tree Kangaroos are found. They also reside in Queen island and a variety of different islands around that area. They are able to live both in the mountains and low land locations.
Tree Kangaroo Behavior
Almost the entire life of the Tree Kangaroo will be spent in the trees. They can be on ground though but it takes a great deal of energy from them. They are also very clumsy on land. That makes them more vulnerable to predators. They are very agile though in the trees. They are able to leap up to 30 feet too. That is how they often get from one tree to the next. They can also jump from the trees to the ground up to about 59 feet without any type of injury.
The Tree Kangaroo tends to be a solitary creature. The exceptions are when it is mating or when a female has a young one to care for. There are very strong social bonds that will occur between a female and her young. If necessary she will defend her young with her own life.
Tree Kangaroo Feeding
Leaves make up the biggest part of the diet for the Tree Kangaroo. During the year though there may be various types of seasonal fruits for them to access. They will also consume bark, sap, ferns and flowers that they find in their environment.
Tree Kangaroo Reproduction
Since the Tree Kangaroo spends most of its life in the thick forest trees, there is plenty we don’t know about them. Researchers don’t know what attracts male and females to each other for mating. What is know is that the gestation period is about 32 days after mating has occurred.
The offspring is very small when it is born. Yet it instinctively is able to crawl to the pouch where it will be well protected. There it is able to consume milk and to enable it to grow. The young is called a joey and it will remain in that pouch for about 10 months.
They are completely weaned about 1 year of age. However, they will stay with their mother for about another 6 months. Their life expectancy is about 20 years.
Tree Kangaroo Conservation
The Tree Kangaroo is considered to be threatened at this point in time. The combination of loss of habitat and hunting has resulted in their numbers dropping dramatically in the past 30 years. There are conservation efforts in place to secure their habitat and to reduce hunting. However, it can be very hard to enforce such regulations.
