Posted by: Hilary Aten, Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program
Last night, TV viewers across the U.S. discovered an animal few had ever seen before, but are now not likely to forget. Woodland Park Zoo's work to study and protect the endangered Matschie's tree kangaroo was featured on both ABC World News and ABC Nightline--showing rare glimpses of the animal's elusive, tree-top lifestyle in the remote, dense forests of Papua New Guinea.
Click to watch the full story online (will open in a new window): From November 5-7, 2009, ABC News anchor Dan Harris joined researchers from Woodland Park Zoo-based Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP) and National Geographic at the program's Wasaunon field research site in the Papua New Guinea cloud forest of the Huon Peninsula.
Through a generous grant from National Geographic and the Waitt Foundation's exploratory research program, Kyler Abernathy and TKCP's Dr. Lisa Dabek successfully captured and outfitted two wild tree kangaroos with National Geographic Crittercams. The Crittercams captured hours of footage from these endangered kangaroos' perspectives in the tree canopy, providing previously unknown data on the natural animal behavior of wild tree kangaroos, including feeding behavior and times of activity--important information in order to help conserve these animals and their habitat.
Find out more about the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program and how you can help.