Tenkile

Description

The tenkile ( tenkile Flannery and Seri,1990 ),also known as Kangaroo Scott arboreal,is a rare marsupial of the family Macropodidae widespread in Papua New Guinea.Its distribution area,extremely small (about 1247 km²),is limited at the east end of Bewani Monti,the massif of Menawa and Torricelli Mountains,between the villages of Yonkeitei and Wigotei,in the Fatima region.It lives in the rainforests at altitudes between 830 and 1520 m.Covered by thick black fur and with characteristic tufts of fur on the shoulders,it is one of the largest arboreal kangaroos: the male weighs on 11.5 kg,while the female,smaller,does not exceed 9.5.It feeds on fruits,ferns and leaves.This species,discovered by the famous Australian naturalist Tim Flannery only in 1989,is threatened by the hunt for food use given by the indigenous tribes and by deforestation.