Animal profile

Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo

Dendrolagus goodfellowi

MammaliaMontane and lowland tropical rainforestEndangered

Field profile

Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo is a rainforest macropod with a chestnut coat and two golden stripes down the back. It feeds on leaves, fruit and flowers in the canopy and moves through the trees by climbing rather than hopping. Hunting and forest clearance have reduced its numbers steeply.

Published field notes

2024-12-20

Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo

Tree-kangaroos can move their hind legs separately

Kangaroos on the ground swing both hind legs together and cannot move them in alternation at all. Tree-kangaroos, descended from those ground-dwellers, have re-evolved independent hind-limb movement, which is what lets them walk along a narrow branch.

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