Tree kangaroo. Lifestyle and habitat of the tree kangaroo

Kangaroos are the most famous marsupial animals, which personify the entire order of Marsupials in general. Nevertheless, the vast family of kangaroos, numbering about 50 species, stands apart in this order and keeps many secrets.

Red kangaroo (Macropus rufus).

Externally, kangaroos do not resemble any animal: their head resembles that of a deer, the neck is of medium length, the body is slender in the front and widens in the back, the limbs are of different sizes - the front ones are relatively small, and the back ones are very long and powerful, the tail is thick and long. The front paws are five-fingered, have well-developed toes, and look more like a primate hand than a dog's paw. Nevertheless, the fingers end in rather large claws.

The front paw of a large gray or forest kangaroo (Macropus giganteus).

The hind feet have only four toes ( thumb reduced), with the second and third fingers fused. The kangaroo's body is covered with short, thick hair, which protects the animals well from heat and cold. The color of most species is protective - gray, red, brown, some species may have white stripes. The sizes of kangaroos vary widely: the largest red kangaroos reach a height of 1.5 m and weigh up to 85-90 kg, and the smallest species are only 30 cm long and weigh 1-1.5 kg! All types of kangaroos are conventionally divided into three groups by size: the three largest species are called gigantic kangaroos, the medium-sized kangaroos are called wallabies, and the smallest species are called rat kangaroos or kangaroo rats.

The brush-tailed kangaroo (Bettongia lesueur) is a representative of the small rat kangaroos. Due to its tiny size, it can easily be mistaken for a rodent in appearance.

The kangaroo's habitat covers Australia and the adjacent islands - Tasmania, New Guinea, and kangaroos are also acclimatized in New Zealand. Among kangaroos, there are both species with a wide range, living throughout the continent, and endemics, found only in a limited area (for example, in New Guinea). The habitat of these animals is very diverse: most species inhabit open forests, grassy and desert plains, but there are also those that live... in the mountains!

Mountain kangaroo, or wallaroo (Macropus robustus) among the rocks.

It turns out that kangaroos among the rocks are a common sight; for example, mountain wallabies can rise to the level of the snow.

A kangaroo in a snowdrift is not such a rare occurrence.

But the most unusual are the tree kangaroos that live in dense forests. They spend most of their lives on tree branches and very deftly climb in the crowns, and at times jump over trunks in short jumps. Considering that their tail and hind legs are not at all tenacious, then such balancing is amazing.

Tree kangaroo Goodfellow (Dendrolagus goodfellowi) with baby.

All types of kangaroos move on their hind legs; while grazing, they hold their body horizontally and can rest their front paws on the ground, while alternately pushing off with their hind and forelimbs. In all other cases, they hold the body in an upright position. Interestingly, kangaroos are not able to move their paws sequentially, as other two-legged animals (birds, primates) do and push off the ground with both paws at the same time. For this reason, they cannot move backwards. Actually walking is unknown to these animals; they move only by jumping, and this is a very energy-consuming method of movement! On the one hand, kangaroos have phenomenal jumping ability and are able to make jumps several times greater than their body length, on the other hand, they spend a lot of energy on such movement, so they are not very durable. Large species of kangaroo can maintain a good pace for no more than 10 minutes. However, this time is enough to hide from enemies, because the length of the jump of the largest red kangaroo can reach 9 and even 12 m, and the speed is 50 km/h! Red kangaroos can jump up to 2 m in height.

The jumps of the red kangaroo amaze with their power.

Other species have more modest achievements, but in any case, kangaroos are the fastest animals in their habitat. The secret of such jumping ability lies not so much in the powerful muscles of the paws, but in... the tail. The tail serves as a very effective balancer during jumping and as a fulcrum when sitting, leaning on the tail, these animals relieve the muscles of the hind limbs.

Kangaroos often rest lying on their sides in a sybaritic pose, comically scratching their sides.

Kangaroos are herd animals and live in groups of 10-30 individuals, with the exception of the smallest rat kangaroos and mountain wallabies, which live alone. Small species are active only at night, large ones can be active during the day, but still prefer to graze in the dark. There is no clear hierarchy in the kangaroo herd and in general their social connections are not developed. This behavior is due to the general primitiveness of marsupials and the weak development of the cerebral cortex. Their interaction is limited to monitoring their brothers - as soon as one animal gives an alarm signal, the rest take to their heels. The kangaroo's voice is similar to a hoarse cough, but their hearing is very sensitive, so they hear a relatively quiet cry from afar. Kangaroos do not have homes, with the exception of rat kangaroos, which live in burrows.

The yellow-footed rock wallaby (Petrogale xanthopus), also called the ring-tailed or yellow-footed kangaroo, has taken a fancy to the rocks.

Kangaroos feed on plant foods, which they can chew twice, regurgitating part of the digested food and chewing it again, like ruminants. The kangaroo's stomach has a complex structure and is populated with bacteria that facilitate the digestion of food. Most species feed exclusively on grass, eating it in large quantities. Tree kangaroos feed on leaves and fruits of trees (including ferns and vines), and the smallest rat kangaroos can specialize in eating fruits, bulbs and even frozen plant sap, and they can also include insects in their diet. This brings them closer to other marsupials - possums. Kangaroos drink little and can go without water for a long time, being content with the moisture of plants.

Female kangaroo with baby in pouch.

Kangaroos do not have a specific breeding season, but their reproductive processes are very intense. In fact, the female’s body is a “factory” for the production of its own kind. Excited males engage in fights, during which they lock their front paws together and hit each other hard in the stomach with their hind paws. In such a fight, the tail plays an important role, on which the fighters literally rely on their fifth leg.

Male great gray kangaroos in a mating match.

Pregnancy in these animals is very short, for example, female gray giant kangaroos carry a baby for only 38-40 days; in small species this period is even shorter. In fact, kangaroos give birth to underdeveloped embryos 1-2 cm long (in the largest species). It is surprising that such a premature fetus has complex instincts that allow it to independently (!) reach the mother’s pouch. The female helps him by licking a path in the fur, but the embryo crawls without outside help! To appreciate the scale of this phenomenon, imagine if human children were born 1-2 months after conception and independently found their mother's breasts blindly. Having climbed into the mother's pouch, the baby kangaroo attaches itself to one of the nipples for a long time and spends the first 1-2 months in the pouch.

Matshi's tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei Förster et Rotschild). Sem. Kangaroo (Macropodidae)
The body length is 50-76 cm. The tail is cylindrical and has a length of 42.5-42.9 cm. It lives at an altitude of 900-1500 m above sea level in the mountain tropical forests of New Guinea (mainly on the Huon Peninsula, as well as on the neighboring island of Umboy ).

Spends most of its life in trees, feeds throughout the day, and sleeps 60% of its life. The tree kangaroo leads a solitary lifestyle, with the male's areas overlapping with the smaller areas of several females.
The tree kangaroo has a number of adaptations to the arboreal lifestyle: its hind limbs differ little in length from the front, compared to other kangaroos; the animal's tail is long, cylindrical, heavily pubescent, which helps balance when jumping from tree to tree (up to 9 m from the upper branches to the lower ones or up to 18 m from the tree to the ground), the fur on the back and head grows from the tail to the head, which prevents getting wet.
The ears of tree wallabies are rounded, and the muzzle is shortened in comparison with other genera of kangaroos.

Female tree kangaroos have a polyestrous cycle, with no fixed mating season. Copulation lasting about an hour occurs on the ground.

This species is characterized by the longest pregnancy among marsupials (39-45 days). Before giving birth, the female sits on the base of her tail, which lies between her hind legs, the birth lasts about two minutes, then the 2.5 cm calf develops in a large pouch, where there are four nipples.

The tree kangaroo feeds on plant matter, leaves (which make up the majority of its diet), flowers, fruits, nuts, bark, bird eggs and chicks, and insects. The metabolic rate is 70% of that of the closely related red kangaroo, which may be due to the increased content of toxins in tree leaves compared to grass and fruit. Since the required amount of fresh leaves with high tannin concentrations is not always available in zoos, tea leaves are given to these animals in captivity to maintain their coat color.

Residents of New Guinea have long hunted tree kangaroos with dingoes for their meat. With the advent of guns, the efficiency of hunting has increased and now the existence of this species in nature is under threat.

Tree wallaby species:

• Bennett's Kangaroo(Dendrolagus bennettianus): Common in north-eastern Queensland.
• Kangaroo Doria(Dendrolagus dorianus): inhabits most of New Guinea at altitudes from 600 to 3600 m. The most close-up view tree wallaby.
• Kangaroo Goodfellow(Dendrolagus goodfellowi): lives in the central and southeastern part of the island of New Guinea. Endangered.
• Tree kangaroo inustus(Dendrolagus inustus): Found in northern and western New Guinea and nearby islands. The species has been poorly studied by specialists.
• Lumholtz Kangaroo(Dendrolagus lumholtzi): Common in north-eastern Queensland.
• Kangaroo Matshi(Dendrolagus matschiei): Found on the Huon Peninsula in Papua New Guinea.
• Dendrolagus mbaiso: lives in the highlands of western New Guinea.
• Dendrolagus pulcherrimus: lives in the Torricelli Mountains of Papua New Guinea, as well as in the Foggia Mountains of the Indonesian province of Western New Guinea.
• Dendrolagus scottae: lives in the Torricelli Mountains. Endangered.
• Dendrolagus spadix: lives in the southern part of New Guinea from the territory National Park Lorenz to the Fly River.
• Dendrolagus stellarum: lives in the highlands of western New Guinea.
• bear kangaroo(Dendrolagus ursinus): Found on the Chendravasih Peninsula.

These are very cute and interesting animals, but don’t let their cute appearance fool you. Some species of wallabies are not much different from bears. Oh, how beautiful Mother Nature and her creations are!

There are 6 species belonging to the genus of Tree kangaroos - wallabies. Of these, New Guinea is inhabited by the bear wallaby, the Matchisha wallaby, which has a subspecies of the Goodfellow wallaby, and the Doria wallaby. In Australian Queensland there are Lumholtz's wallaby (bungari), Bennett's wallaby, or tharibina.

Their original habitat was New Guinea, but now wallabies are also found in Australia. Tree kangaroos live in tropical forests of mountainous regions, at altitudes from 450 to 3000m. above sea level. The body size of the animal is 52-81 cm, the tail is from 42 to 93 cm long. Wallabies weigh, depending on the species, from 7.7 to 10 kg for males and from 6.7 to 8.9 kg. females.

Wallabies are covered with long fur, soft or coarse. Color depends on specific type. Thus, the bear tree wallaby has a brown, black or gray saddle coat on its back and a red or white belly and sides.

Doria and Bennett wallabies have brown markings on their fur. At the same time, Bennett's wallaby has a small “bang” on its forehead, raised fur on its back, and a red patch of fur near its tail. Lumholtz's wallaby is contrastingly colored: black legs, gray or red back, white belly.

Wallabies live in flocks, in which for one male there are several females with offspring. Sometimes related males can form groups to confront aggressive outside males. In Lumholtz's tree kangaroos, peace in the flock depends on the number of males: with one male, the females live quietly together, but when a second one appears, battles begin.

Matchisha's wallaby is the most colorful kangaroo: the back is red-brown, red, and the rest of the body is yellow. Its variety, the Goodfellow wallaby, has yellow stripes on its body and tail.

The number of tree kangaroos is monitored by conservation authorities in Australia and New Guinea. Lumholtz's, Bennett's, Doria's, Matchish's and bear's wallabies are listed as rare and endangered. Protected areas have been created to preserve them.

Tree kangaroos have strong front and rear legs with curved claws, and pads on the feet. The tail serves them for support and balance. The animals are very mobile, deftly climb trees, can jump up to 18 m down, and up to 10 m from tree to tree.

Wallabies are nocturnal animals that sleep in trees during the day. After dark, wallabies turn tail first and descend to the ground, where they move by jumping, arching their tail. At night, kangaroos look for food in the form of fruits, ferns, leaves and shoots of plants.

Wallabies can mate all year round. Kangaroos carry their babies for 32 days. The newborn (usually alone) immediately crawls into the mother's brood pouch. There, its development continues for about 300 days, but the baby kangaroo suckles its mother for about 100 more days after leaving the pouch.

Wallabies are highly tamed. Depending on the species, their lifespan is 14-20 years.

An amazing animal lives in Australia - the wallaby. It can regulate its own body temperature, jump from tree to tree after 9 meters and prolong pregnancy. Scientists continue to study tree kangaroos, discovering new amazing facts about these cute and cute animals.

These animals belong to the phylum Chordata, a class of mammals, a genus in the family Kangarooidae. At first glance, the tree kangaroo is very reminiscent of a small bear, because it is completely covered with thick brown hair, only in places (the belly and shoulders) it has a bright red or yellow color. But, looking closer, you realize that this is an amazing, rare animal.

The tree kangaroo moves easily and carefree through trees and vines with the help of flexible claws. Despite the fact that these unusual animals have a decent mass, they are surprisingly agile and dexterous. And what kind of jumpers they are, there’s nothing to say. They can easily jump from tree to tree at a distance of up to 10 meters. Needless to say, they do not descend from trees, but jump. Even a height of 20 meters does not scare them. The tree kangaroo, a photo of which you can see in the article, is not often found in nature, but if you are lucky enough to cross paths with it, then try to make friends. These animals are very friendly and will never attack or offend.

It is not immediately possible to distinguish a female and a male from each other, since their sizes are almost the same. The tree kangaroo in Australia ranges in height from 70 to 90 cm, rarely up to one meter, and weighs about 9-15 kg. Sometimes there are bogatyrs weighing up to 20 kg. Animals live in trees. Tropical broad-leaved forests are especially loved by the females of this species. They choose trees that are denser and spend most of their lives on them alone, less often gathering in small flocks. Wallabies, tree kangaroos, have the ability to maintain their temperature at normal levels in any heat. This amazing ability allows animals with thick fur to feel great in hot Australia. The tree kangaroo drinks a lot of water, eats leaves, and is very fond of passion fruit and eucalyptus leaves. If animals are driven into captivity, they are fed corn, jacket potatoes, different fruits and eggs.

In Australia there is a legend that once upon a time a male kangaroo attacked a child, and since then the locals began hunting these animals, so they became unsociable and hid as far as possible from humans. It is rare to find them even in deep thicket; they move almost silently, and also blend in with the color of the trees. The tree kangaroo sleeps during the day and goes out to hunt at night in search of plant food. Animals are attached to their habitat, protect it from predators and do not allow anyone to approach it. On average, a kangaroo lives about 20 years and during its entire life it may not even change trees, only descending from them to drink and get food.

Most often, the tree kangaroo is found in the tropics and rain forests of Australia and New Guinea. It is rare to encounter this unusual animal in the mountains or on the plains, but nevertheless it does happen.
Wallabies do not have a mating season, so they reproduce throughout the whole year. It is extremely rare for females to give birth to more than one baby. In the first years, the baby does not want to move even one step away from his mother. Pregnancy in females lasts no more than a year. Having been born, the cub immediately moves into the pouch and remains there for one year or more, feeding on its mother’s milk.

Not long ago, scientists discovered a unique fact: a female tree kangaroo is capable of extending her pregnancy in case of danger. It happens that the embryo dies in the womb, and then another one comes to replace it. Australian biologists have hypothesized that the tree kangaroo could help humanity in the event of a catastrophe, namely global warming. The stomachs of livestock, such as bulls and sheep, release large amounts of methane into the air. And indeed it is. And the stomach of the tree kangaroo, for reasons still unknown to science, is capable of processing methane. Obviously, this happens with the help of bacteria. If scientists study these bacteria in the near future, they will be able to use them to purify the air on Earth. Needless to say, these rare animals are closely monitored by environmental services; they are doing their best to increase the population of amazing creatures.

An amazing animal lives in Australia - the wallaby. It can regulate its own body temperature, jump from tree to tree after 9 meters and prolong pregnancy. Scientists continue to study tree kangaroos, discovering new amazing facts about these cute and cute animals.

Appearance

These animals belong to the class of mammals, a genus in the kangaroo family. At first glance, the tree kangaroo is very reminiscent of a small bear, because it is completely covered with thick brown hair, only in places (the belly and shoulders) it has a bright red or yellow color. But, looking closer, you realize that this is an amazing, rare animal.

The tree kangaroo moves easily and carefree through trees and vines with the help of flexible claws. Despite the fact that these unusual animals have a decent mass, they are surprisingly agile and dexterous. And what kind of jumpers they are, there’s nothing to say. They can easily jump from tree to tree at a distance of up to 10 meters. Needless to say, they do not descend from trees, but jump. Even a height of 20 meters does not scare them. The tree kangaroo, a photo of which you can see in the article, is not often found in nature, but if you are lucky enough to cross paths with it, then try to make friends. These animals are very friendly and will never attack or offend.

Features of tree kangaroos

It is not immediately possible to distinguish a female and a male from each other, since their sizes are almost the same. The tree kangaroo in Australia ranges in height from 70 to 90 cm, rarely up to one meter, and weighs about 9-15 kg. Sometimes there are bogatyrs weighing up to 20 kg.

Animals live in trees. Tropical ones are especially loved by the females of this species. They choose trees that are denser and spend most of their life on them alone, less often huddling in small flocks. Wallabies, tree kangaroos, have the ability to maintain their temperature at normal levels in any heat. This amazing ability allows animals with thick fur to feel great in hot Australia.

The tree kangaroo drinks a lot of water, eats leaves, and is very fond of passion fruit and eucalyptus leaves. If animals are driven into captivity, they are fed corn, jacket potatoes, various fruits and eggs.

Lifestyle

In Australia there is a legend that once upon a time a male kangaroo attacked a child, and since then the locals began hunting these animals, so they became unsociable and hid as far as possible from humans. It is rare to find them even in deep thicket; they move almost silently, and also blend in with the color of the trees.

The tree kangaroo sleeps during the day and goes out to hunt at night in search of plant food. Animals are attached to their habitat, protect it from predators and do not allow anyone to approach it. On average, a kangaroo lives about 20 years and during its entire life it may not even change trees, only descending from them to drink and get food.

Places of distribution

Most often, the tree kangaroo is found in the tropics and rain forests of Australia. It is rare to encounter this unusual animal in the mountains or on the plains, however, this does happen.

About the mating season

Wallabies do not have a mating season, so they reproduce throughout the whole year. It is extremely rare for females to give birth to more than one baby. In the first years, the baby does not want to move even one step away from his mother. Pregnancy in females lasts no more than a year. Having been born, the cub immediately moves into the pouch and remains there for one year or more, feeding on its mother’s milk.

Unbelievable but true

Not long ago, scientists discovered a unique fact: a female tree kangaroo is capable of extending her pregnancy in case of danger. It happens that the embryo dies in the womb, and then another one comes to replace it.

Australian biologists have hypothesized that the tree kangaroo could help humanity in the event of a catastrophe, namely global warming. The stomachs of livestock, such as bulls and sheep, release large amounts of methane into the air. And indeed it is. And the stomach of the tree kangaroo, for reasons still unknown to science, is capable of processing methane. Obviously, this happens with the help of bacteria. If scientists study these bacteria in the near future, they will be able to use them to purify the air on Earth.

Needless to say, these rare animals are closely monitored by environmental services; they are doing their best to increase the population of amazing creatures.