Wondiwoi Tree Kangaroos of Indonesian New Guinea Bamboo Montane Forest

Summary: Two Wondiwoi tree kangaroos are known, as a London museum pelt since 1928 and from a photo opp in an Indonesian New Guinea bamboo montane forest in 2018.

illustration of Wondiwoi tree kangaroo by Australian natural history illustrator Peter Schouten: National Geographic @natgeo via Facebook Sept. 25, 2018

Bamboo montane forests still appear to accommodate Wondiwoi tree kangaroos in the West Papua province of Indonesian New Guinea, according to observations and photographs accumulated by an amateur botanist July 31, 2018.

Michael Smith, 47-year-old research and analytics head in Farnham, Surrey, United Kingdom, to a medical communications company, became observer and photographer of a Wondiwoi tree kangaroo. A second-hand long-focus lens that cost £80 ($104) caught a living counterpart of a casualty collected in 1928 by Ernst Mayr (July 5, 1904-Feb. 3, 2005). Scientific descriptions of Wondiwoi tree kangaroos in 1933 derived from that dead specimen delivered, by ship from New Guinea, to the Natural History Museum in London.

Smith, a zoology student during university years, espied the Wondiwoi tree kangaroo the last 30 minutes of the last day of his July 23-31, 2018, expedition.

Scientific descriptions fit the specimen's black-eared, black-eyed, black-nosed wide face; black-brown back; broad paws; golden-furred belly; red limbs and rump; silver-yellow hair-tips; and short, whitish tail.

Smith's photographs go well with Lionel Walter Rothschild's (Feb. 18, 1868-Aug. 27, 1937) and John Guy Dollman's (Sept. 4, 1886-March 21, 1942) descriptions and with Mayr's. They have 98.42-foot- (30-meter-) high branches hiding what hints of Frederick William Frohawk's (July 16, 1861-Dec. 10, 1946) illustration for Dollman and Rothschild of Mayr's "monkey-bear." The Macropodidae (from the Greek μακρός, makrós, "long" and πούς, poús, "foot") family member includes bear-like curved, long, sharp claws and a long, monkey-like prehensile tail.

Wondiwoi tree kangaroos journey, by bear- and monkey-like climbs and kangaroo-like hops on roughened foot-pads to muscular fore-limbs and smaller hind-limbs, over mossy bamboo tree branches.

London's Natural History Museum keeps among its mammal collections the original foot- (0.31-meter-) long, 90-year-old, 20.39-pound (9.25-kilogram) male specimen from 5,249.34-foot (1,600-meter) altitudes above sea level.

Clawed tree bases, "foxy," "funky" scents and scat at 5,577.43- to 6,561.8-foot (1,700- to 2,000-meter) altitudes above sea level led Smith to the Wondiwoi tree kangaroo. Smith mentions managing photographs with expedition guide Martin and interpreter Norman Terok and scheduling Wondiwoi tree kangaroo scat for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analyses with Mayr's specimen. His expedition needed base camps, at 2,296.59- to 6,561.68-foot (700- and 2,000-meter) altitudes above sea level; two-week chili-sauce, noodle, rice and sardine supplies; and four porters.

The Wondiwoi Peninsula's Wondiwoi Mountain possibly offers Wondiwoi tree kangaroos daily diets of eggs, flowers, grains and sap and 115.83-square-mile (300-square-kilometer) bamboo-thick, mica-rich, steep-sloped distribution ranges.

Smith posits that "I went through my mental checklist of their features and realised 'Hang on, this has absolutely got to be the Wondiwoi tree kangaroo.'"

Online sources quote, for expert opinions from non-expedition members, Mark Eldridge, Australian Museum marsupialogist; Timothy Flannery, author and marsupialogist; and James Martin, James Cook University marsupialogist. Flannery recognizes, among expedition results, that "The images are clear and reveal the distinctive coat color. Everything in the pictures is consistent with the only known specimen." The International Union for Conservation of Nature suggests critically endangered statuses for 50-some surviving Wondiwoi tree kangaroos surrounded by scaled-up gold-mining, logging, palm-oil plantings and poaching.

Wondiwoi tree kangaroos, termed Dendrolagus mayri ("Mayr's tree-hare"), typify Smith's conclusion that "The general belief that there's nothing more of interest to discover is quite mistaken."

Wondiwoi tree kangaroo; Wondiwoi mountain range, West Papua, New Guinea; image by South West News Service/Michael Smith: Smithsonian Magazine @smithsonianmagazine via Facebook Sept. 27, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

illustration of Wondiwoi tree kangaroo by Australian natural history illustrator Peter Schouten: National Geographic @natgeo via Facebook Sept. 25, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/natgeo/posts/10155922405048951

Wondiwoi tree kangaroo; Wondiwoi mountain range, West Papua, New Guinea; image by South West News Service/Michael Smith: Smithsonian Magazine @smithsonianmagazine via Facebook Sept. 27, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/smithsonianmagazine/posts/10156096457283253

For further information:

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