page_title: Matschie's tree-kangaroo
section_title: Ecology and behavior
hierarchical_section_title: Matschie's tree-kangaroo / Ecology and behavior
caption_attribution_description: Matschie's Tree-kangaroo at the Bronx Zoo. This is a cropped version of File:Matschies tree kangaroo Dendrolagus matschiei at Bronx Zoo 1.jpg
context_page_description: Matschie's tree-kangaroo, also known as the Huon tree-kangaroo is a tree-kangaroo native to the Huon Peninsula of northeastern New Guinea island, within the nation of Papua New Guinea.
  Under the IUCN classification, Matschie's tree-kangaroo is an Endangered species.
  The scientific name honours German biologist Paul Matschie.
context_section_description: Matschie's tree-kangaroo lives in the mountainous rainforests at elevations of between 1,000 and 3,000 metres (3,300 and 9,800 ft). The kangaroo tends to live either alone or with very small groups, usually composed of just a female, a joey, and a male. They spend most of their time in the trees and come down occasionally to feed. They are very adept at hopping and can leap up to 30 feet (9 m).
  Instead of sweating, Matschie's tree-kangaroo licks its forearms and allows the evaporation to help cool its body.
  In the wild, it will usually feed on leaves, fruits and mosses. When kept in zoos, it feeds on apples, carrots, yams, corn on the cob, celery, kale/romaine, high fiber monkey biscuits, tofu, hard boiled eggs, and various types of tree boughs (elm, willow, etc.)
  In the wild, researchers have found most Matschies’ live alone or in small assemblies, containing maybe a mother and her offspring and one male. Most of the time, the groups have a sex ratio of 1:1. The Matschie's tree-kangaroos are very closely related to Dendrolagus goodfellowi, the Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo, which was once considered a subspecies of the Matschie's tree-kangaroos. Matschies’ appear to be scared of humans because they scramble around when humans are nearby and they are very difficult to find in the forests. They spend about 14 to 15 hours of their days sleeping and resting. The Matschie's tree-kangaroos are known for defending their home territory and marking their boundaries.
  When the temperature of the environment drastically changes at different times of the year, they are able to maintain a moderate body temperature because of their metabolic rate. Matschies’ have been found to be very susceptible to mycobacterial infections; however, the infections do not seem to be contagious because some individuals that are around infected kangaroos do not appear to get the infection. It seems to be from an avium complex related to tuberculosis, but scientists are still unsure of how exactly it spreads.
caption: Young kangaroo
exif: {"Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D700", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.00", "Image DateTime": "2009:06:28 14:05:45", "Image Artist": "Fred Hsu", "Image Copyright": "Fred Hsu 2009", "Image ExifOffset": "325", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "640", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:06:28 14:05:45", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:06:28 14:05:45", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "90", "EXIF SubSecTime": "89", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "89", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "89", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1670", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1873", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "90", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}