The macropod hind limb is built for synchronous hopping: on the ground, a kangaroo's hind feet leave and land together, and the animal is unable to move them alternately in the way a dog or a person does. Tree-kangaroos descend from ground-dwelling ancestors but have reversed part of that specialisation. They can advance one hind foot at a time, giving them a walking gait suited to narrow, uneven branches.
Other climbing adaptations came with it. The forelimbs are longer and more powerfully muscled than in terrestrial kangaroos, the hind feet are shorter and broader with roughened soles, the claws are strongly curved, and the long tail acts as a counterweight rather than as a prop.
The animals are nonetheless clumsy by primate standards, and their descents are notably ungainly: a tree-kangaroo often comes down a trunk backwards, and individuals have been recorded jumping to the ground from heights of around 15 metres without apparent injury.