Book Review: Quest for the Tree Kangaroo by Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop

The name Wasaunon designates the camp where scientists operate from:

• 9 to 10 single-occupant tents;
• two fern-, moss-covered, sapling-built latrines; and
• two fern-, moss-covered, sapling-built dining, kitchen, trackers' dormitory lodges.

A few degrees south of the Equator, the forest explodes with:

• bamboo (Bambuseae tribe);
• Coleus;
• Dacrydium;
• dogwood-like, gold-centered, white-petaled Saurauia flowers;
• ferns;
• figs (Ficus spp);
• grasses (Poaceae family);
• Impatiens;
• lace-, umbrella-like mushrooms;
• lichens, liverworts (Marchantiophyta division);
• myrtle (Decaspermum spp); 
• orchids (Orchidaceae family);
• Pandanus palms;
• raspberry-like stinging nettles (Elatostema spp);
• Rhododendron;
• trees 600+ years old;
• vegetation revelatory of 70,000,000+ evolutionary years;
• wild strawberries (Fragaria spp); and
• yellow mosses, vines.

The 44-member expedition finds Matschie’s tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei) gazing from 80- to 110-foot (24.38- to 33.53-meter) arboreal heights.  

The expedition also gets acquainted with Matschie’s tree kangaroo’s fellow wildlife:

• cassowaries (Casuarius spp);
• cowrie (Cypraeidae family), triton (Charonia spp) shells;
• eclectus parrots (Eclectus roratus);
• forest wallabies (Dorcopsis spp);
• grey-bellied tree mice (Pogonomys sylvestris);
• harpy eagles (Harpia harpyja);
• hornbills (Bucerotidae family);
• jumping spiders (Salticidae family);
• leeches (Hirudinea subclass);
• long-beaked spiny anteaters (Zaglossus bartoni);
• mountain cuscus (Phalanger carmelitae);
• pademelon (Thylogale spp);
• poison-feathered Pitohui;
• Raggiana birds-of-paradise (Paradisaea raggiana);
• sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps);
• Victoria crowned pigeons (Goura victoria); and
• weevils (Curculionoidea superfamily).

Expeditionists hope that immediate take-aways will be understanding the button-eyed, golden-furred, pink-nosed, round-faced, thick-tailed, upright-eared marsupial whose hind legs uniquely move independently of each other. The long-term concern is sustainability of the 100,000+-acre (40,468.56+-hectare) Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program. 

Scientists judge as the greatest challenges to Matschie’s tree kangaroo:

• clear-cutting since New Guinea remains 90% forested;
• heating from globally-warmed climate change;
• hunting for fur, meat, trophy claws; and
• mining since the world’s largest gold and third-largest copper mines -- the Grasberg (“Grass Mountain”) -- are in western (Papua) New Guinea.

So Quest for the Tree Kangaroo keeps cultural enrichment, educational entertainment-seeking readers -- fifth-graders and ten-year-olds upwards -- on the edge of their seats with an expedition to the cloud forest of New Guinea, with:

• William Betz, jacket artist;
• Nic Bishop, jacket artist and photographer;
• Lisa Diercks, book designer;
• Houghton Mifflin Company’s Angie-set Scientists in the Field series text;
• Sy Montgomery, author; and
• Robin Wingrave, mapmaker.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Matschie's Tree Kangaroos' love of leaves, especially cloud forest flora such as Saurauia madrensis, qualifies them as folivores (herbivores specializing in eating leaves).
Saurauia madrensis at University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley, California: Stan Shebs, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saurauia_madrensis_2.jpg

Matschie's Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei), also known as Huon Tree Kangaroo, with joey's head, paw, and tail peeking out from pouch
Bronx Zoo, New York City: Cyndy Sims Parr (cyanocorax), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/cyanocorax/1088199169/

Matschie's Tree Kangaroo synecology: Raggiana Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea raggiana), flamboyant national bird of Papua New Guinea
illustration by Joseph Wolf (January 21, 1820 – April 20, 1899); lithography by Joseph Smit (July 18, 1836 – November 4, 1929); printing by M and N Hanhart
D.G. Elliot, A monograph of the Paradiseidae or birds of paradise (1873), Plate III: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/44792727

Ancient fossil reefs rise, now as cliff faces, to heights of 82 feet (25 meters) along coastal Huon Peninsula, homeland of Matschie's Tree Kangaroos.
Huon Peninsula, northeastern Papua New Guinea: ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoralCoE), CC BY-ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/coralcoe/6387028641/

Matschie's Tree Kangaroo ecosystem: Finisterre Ranges of northeastern Papua New Guinea's Huon Peninsula, with altitude of 13,620 feet (4150 meters) and prominence
Finisterre Range was scene of fierce fighting between Australian and Japanese forces during WWII's Finisterre Range campaign (September 19, 1943 – April 24, 1944).
38 Squadron Caribou A4-275, cruising at 10,000 feet (3048 meters), is still beneath Finisterre Ranges.: mashleymorgan, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/mashleymorgan/3862017632/

Elliot, Daniel Giraud. 1873. A Monograph of the Paradiseidae or Birds of Paradise. London: D.G. Elliot.

• Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library at:  http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/44792806

Montgomery, Sy. 2006. Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea. Photographs by Nic Bishop. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.