New tree kangaroo found in jungles of Irian Jaya
New tree kangaroo found in jungles of Irian Jaya
SYDNEY (AFP): An Australian scientist announced yesterday the discovery of a new species of tree kangaroo during an expedition to remote mountain ranges in Indonesia's Irian Jaya province.
The kangaroo, yet to be given a scientific name, is the only the 10th tree kangaroo species to be found, and one of only about eight large mammals to be discovered globally this century.
Tim Flannery, scientist at the Australian Museum, said there were no previous records of the strange, yet friendly tree kangaroo species, known locally as the bondegezou, or "man of the high forest."
Flannery estimated there were thousands of bondegezous surviving in the cold, mossy, damp and rough terrain of the Maokop Range at an altitude of about 4,500 meters.
The tree kangaroo was well-known to two tribes -- the Dani tribe which had vigorously hunted it and the Moni tribe, which believed it to be an ancestor and never killed it.
"The Moni gave it the name of bondegezou, which reflects their belief that it is an ancestor, and they say it recognizes them when they see it, throwing up its arms and whistling," said Flannery.
"Without the Moni belief, I don't think it would still exist." The Dani tribe were vigorous hunters of the kangaroo. Its friendliness was a weakness, Flannery said, and its numbers had fallen drastically in Dani territory during living memory.
"Normally, to hunt a tree kangaroo you have chase it with a dog, climb up after it and try to knock it off with a stick, even then they can leap into another tree and disappear.
"With this one, you just stand at the bottom of the tree and hold out a bunch of its favorite leaves."
Rumors
Flannery said the kangaroo was discovered last month by a joint Australian-Indonesian team during a survey of southern Irian Jaya commissioned by mining company P.T. Freeport Indonesia.
"We had heard rumors of tree kangaroos in that area and someone had actually sent me a photograph some time ago," Flannery said.
"First we found a piece of skin, then some bones in an old open oven where people had cooked it for dinner and then finally we found an animal that a hunter had just killed."
Flannery said the bondegezou, just over a meter (three feet) high and weighing about 15 kilograms as an adult, differed from most tree kangaroos in that it spent less time in trees.
It appeared poorly adapted to tree life compared to other species, with thinner bones less able to cushion the impact of falls from branches and a shorter tail for balancing.
"There is nothing else like it among other tree kangaroo species," he said.
The kangaroo probably dated back millions of years, Flannery said, adding that he believed it could be the offshoot of an early tree kangaroo that had started a return to life on the ground.
The bondegezou had escaped detection by Western scientists, he added, despite several expeditions to its habitat earlier this century which had carefully documented other species.
"My suspicion is that they did not work closely with local hunters or perhaps they were just unlucky," Flannery said.
He said he believed there had only been about seven large mammals discovered this century, including the confirmation last month of a new species of wild ox in Vietnam, known as the "vu quang."
Of the world's 10 tree kangaroo species, including the bondegezou, eight live in the rainforests of the island of New Guinea -- comprising Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya -- and two are found in Australia.