Ecology and Behavior
Matschie's tree-kangaroo lives in the mountainous rainforests at elevations of between 1000 and 3300 m. 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.
Read more about this topic: Matschie's Tree-kangaroo
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