Dingiso

Dingiso[1]
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Macropodidae
Genus: Dendrolagus
Species: D. mbaiso
Binomial name
Dendrolagus mbaiso
Flannery, Boeadi & Szalay, 1995
Dingiso range

The dingiso /dɪŋˈɡiːzoʊ/, also known as bondegezou (Dendrolagus mbaiso), is a species of tree-kangaroo native and endemic to Western New Guinea of Indonesia, where it lives in alpine forests in the Sudirman Range at elevations of 3250 to 4200 m, just below the tree line.

It was first filmed for the BBC documentary South Pacific in 2009 after 11 days searching with local Moni tribesmen.

Description

The dingiso has a distinctive pattern of black and white fur; it has a white belly, and a black head, back and limbs. Unlike other tree kangaroos, it spends little time in the trees.

The species epithet, mbaiso, means "the forbidden animal" in Moni. It remains common in the west because of the protection conferred on it by the Moni people. For many Moni, it is an ancestor which must never be harmed.

The dingiso was formally described to science in 1995 by Australian Museum zoologist Tim Flannery, Indonesian zoologist Boeadi and Australian anthropologist Alexandra Szalay.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M, eds. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 60. OCLC 62265494. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
  2. ↑ Leary T, Seri L, Wright D, Hamilton S, Helgen K, Singadan R, Menzies J, Allison A, James R, Dickman C, Aplin K, Flannery T, Martin R & Salas L (2008). Dendrolagus mbaiso. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 2008-10-15. Listed as Critically Endangered (CR A2cd v3.1)
  3. ↑ Flannery, T. F., Boeadi, and A. L. Szalay. (1995). A new tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus: Marsupialia) from Irian Jaya, Indonesia, with notes on ethnography and the evolution of tree-kangaroos. Mammalia 59:1 65-84.

External links