Buergers'/Goodfellow's (Dendrolagus goodfellowi) and Matschie's (Dendrolagus matschiei) Tree Kangaroos Fact Sheet: Diet & Feeding

• In the wild
  • Browsing herbivores (George 1982)
  • Eat large variety of plants on ground and in trees (much more variety than in managed care)
    • 1998 study identified 160 plant species eaten by Buergers', Matschie's, and Doria's tree kangaroos at 2 sites in Huon Peninsula and Eastern Highlands (Dabek & Betz 1998 as cited in Martin 2005)
      • Partial to ferns
        • Aspleniaceae, Blechnaceae, Cyatheaceae, Dryopteridaceae, Marratia, Polypodiaceae families
        • Marratia species (large terrestrial ferns) identified by hunters as a common food plant
      • Also commonly eat:
        • Impatiens hawkeri
        • Climbing pandans (Freycinetia species)
        • Gingers (Zingiberaceae family)
        • Vines and shrubs (Rubrus species)
        • Trees (Timonius species)
      • Matschie's tree kangaroos eat stems and young leaves of epiphytic orchids
    • Food preferences of Buergers' tree kangaroos on Mt Karimui (Hide et al. 1984 as cited in Flannery 1995):
      • Leaves and roots of Poikilospermum amboinse
      • Leaves and fruit of Mussaenda ferruginea
      • Fruit of Ficus species (wild figs)
• In managed care
  • Buergers' and Matschie's tree kangaroos eat mixture of food types in managed care (Flannery et al. 1996)
    • Example - Buergers' tree kangaroo diet, San Diego Zoo (Edwards & Ward 1998)
      • High-fiber primate biscuit
      • Lower-fiber alfalfa-based herbivore pellet
      • Rotation of vegetables, including leafy green and root vegetables
      • Browse
    • Detailed information - see Tree Kangaroo Nutrition Husbandry Manual (Edwards & Ward 1998)
  • Meat-eating - only observed in managed care (Flannery et al. 1996)
    • Eggs and chicks fed to tree kangaroos at Melbourne Zoo
    • Buergers' tree kangaroo - reported to eat chickens, head-first
    • Matschie's tree kangaroo - hunting and partial consumption of pigeon

(Edwards 2001; Flannery et al 1996; Hume 1999; Travis et al. 2012)

• Vitamins
• Vitamin E deficiencies in captive tree kangaroos can lead to white muscle disease and death
  • Wild tree kangaroos in Papua New Guinea had significantly higher values for vitamin E than captive individuals in 1 study (Travis et al. 2012)
  • Ideal level not determined
• Metabolic rate
  • Low basal metabolic rate (BMR) for a marsupial (measured in Matschie's tree kangaroo) (Hume 1999)

A Matschie's tree kangaroo dines on fresh leaves.

The dextrous paws of the tree kangaroo not only help with climbing into the tree tops—they help them select and tear leaves.

Image credit: © User RedGazelle15; Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Image note: This is a cropped image.

Dabek & Betz (1998)
Edwards & Ward (1998)
Flannery et al. (1996)
George (1982)
Hide et al. (1984)
Martin (2005)