Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus goodfellowi), also called the Ornate Tree Kangaroo, belongs to the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos, wallabies and their relatives, and the genus Dendrolagus, with eleven other species. The species is native to the rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

s of New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, and the border of central Irian Jaya in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. Under the IUCN classification, the species is listed as Endangered, which is a result of overhunting and human encroachment on their habitat. It is named after British zoological collector Walter Goodfellow

Walter Goodfellow

Walter Goodfellow was a British zoological collector and ornithologist.-Career:Goodfellow began his career as a wildlife collector by collecting specimens for museums, but later concentrated on capturing live birds for private aviaries...

.

Description

Like other tree-kangaroos, Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo is quite different in appearance from terrestrial kangaroos. Unlike its land dwelling cousins, its legs are not disproportionately large compared to its forelimbs which are strong and end in hooked claws for grasping tree limbs, and it has a long tail for balance. All of these features help it with a predominantly arboreal existence. Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo has short, woolly fur, usually chestnut to red-brown in color, a gray-brown face, yellow-colored cheeks and feet; a pale belly, a long, golden brown tail, and two golden stripes on its backside. It weighs approximately 7 kg (about 15 lb).

Behaviour

Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo is slow and clumsy on the ground, moving at about walking pace and hopping awkwardly, leaning its body far forward to balance the heavy tail. However, in trees it is bold and agile. It climbs by wrapping its forelimbs around the trunk of a tree and hopping with the powerful hind legs, allowing the forelimbs to slide. It has extraordinary jumping ability and has been known to jump to the ground from heights of 30 feet without ill effect.

Diet

Although it feeds mainly on the leaves of the Silkwood tree (Flindersia pimenteliana), other morsels are accepted when available, including various fruits, cereals, flowers and grasses. It has a large stomach that functions as a fermentation vat, similar to the stomachs of cows and other ruminant

Ruminant

A ruminant is a mammal of the order Artiodactyla that digests plant-based food by initially softening it within the animal's first compartment of the stomach, principally through bacterial actions, then regurgitating the semi-digested mass, now known as cud, and chewing it again...

 herbivore

Herbivore

Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in...

s, where bacteria break down fibrous leaves and grasses.