The Buergers' tree-kangaroo (''Dendrolagus goodfellowi buergersi'')
is a
subspecies of the
Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo from
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
, where they dwell mainly in tropical rainforests. Their diet consists of mostly leaves and fruit, which they find both in trees and on the ground.
It is believed
tree-kangaroo
Tree-kangaroos are marsupials of the genus ''Dendrolagus'', adapted for arboreal locomotion. They inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea and far northeastern Queensland, along with some of the islands in the region. All tree-kangaroos a ...
s evolved from creatures similar to modern
kangaroo
Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...
s and
wallabies
A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...
. The ancestors of all kangaroos are thought to be small
marsupial
Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a ...
s that look like present-day
opossum
Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 93 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered Nort ...
s.
Tree-kangaroos have developed long tails for balancing in the trees, and strong forelimbs for climbing. Their teeth are developed for tearing leaves rather than cutting grass.
The Buergers' tree-kangaroo, along with nine other species of tree-kangaroo, are endangered and on the brink of extinction. The key threats to their survival include dwindling habitat due to logging; mining; road kill by humans and predation by domestic and wild dogs.
Gallery
File:Dendrolagus goodfellowi -San Diego Zoo, California, USA-8a.jpg
File:Dendrolagus goodfellowi -Melbourne Zoo, Australia-8a.jpg
File:Buergers' Tree-kangaroo, Dendrolagus goodfellowi redeye correction.jpg
See also
*
Fauna of New Guinea
The fauna of New Guinea comprises a large number of species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates and amphibians.
As the world's largest and highest tropical island, New Guinea occupies less than 0.5% of world's land surface, yet suppor ...
References
Macropods
Mammals of Papua New Guinea
Marsupials of New Guinea
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