Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo

Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo[1]
A Lumholtz's tree kangaroo at David Fleay Wildlife Park in Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Australia.
Lumholtz's tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus lumholtzii) at David Fleay Wildlife Park, Burleigh Heads, Queensland
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Macropodidae
Genus: Dendrolagus
Species: D. lumholtzi
Binomial name
Dendrolagus lumholtzi
Collett, 1884
Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo range
Lithograph of Dendrolagus lumholtzi by Joseph Smit, from Proceedings of the general meetings for scientific business of the Zoological Society of London, 1884

Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus lumholtzi) is a heavy-bodied tree-kangaroo found in rain forests of the Atherton Tableland Region of Queensland. Its status is classified as least concern[2] by the IUCN, although local authorities classify it as rare.[3] It is named after the Norwegian explorer Carl Sofus Lumholtz (1851–1922),[4] who discovered the first specimen in 1883.

Description

It is the smallest of all tree-kangaroos, with males weighing an average of 7.2 kg (16 lbs) and females 5.9 kg (13 lbs).[5] Its head and body length ranges from 480–650 mm, and its tail, 600–740 mm.[6] It has powerful limbs and has short, grizzled grey fur. Its muzzle, toes and tip of tail are black.

Social behaviour

Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo lives in small, loose-knit groups of three to five, consisting of a male and female mates. Each kangaroo maintains a "home range" and will be hostile towards a member of the same gender that enters it (the one exception seems to be non-hostile encounters between adult males and their male offspring). Thus, the male will protect his own range, and visit the ranges of the females in his group. Mating takes place in episodes of about twenty minutes, and is often quite aggressive.

References

  1. ↑ Groves, C.P. (2005). Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 60. OCLC 62265494. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
  2. 1 2 Winter, J.; Burnett, S. & Martin, R. (2008). "Dendrolagus lumholtzi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2008. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 12 Oct 2008. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of Least Concern
  3. ↑ "Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo". Queensland Government. 2005-08-30. Retrieved 2006-10-09. External link in |work= (help)
  4. ↑ "Carl Sofus Lumholtz - biography". Biography. Australian National Herbarium. 17 December 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2010. citing: J.W. Cribb, The Queensland Naturalist, Vol.44, Nos.1-3, 2006
  5. ↑ Flannery, Timothy F; Martin, Roger; Szalay, Alexandria (1996). Tree Kangaroos: A Curious Natural History. Australia: Reed Books. ISBN 0-7301-0492-3. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
  6. ↑ Cronin, Leonard (2000). Australian Mammals: Key Guide (Revised ed.). Annandale, Sydney, Australia: Envirobooks. ISBN 0-85881-172-3.
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