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.