Interestingly, I learned that red and grey kangaroos can be kept in walk-thru paddocks. Something I never seen in Europe.
yeaaaah! thats how we keep pretty much all our kangaroos here in australia. you'll notice though that often large matured males are absent from the group but still, often a docile male is found.
BTW - how well can tree kangaroos jump from standing point? Maybe if they can be kept on open, tree-filled paddocks they can become more popular?
are you kidding? i think the opposite would be true! if you put tree kangaroos in "tree-filled paddocks" i'm afraid they are likely to disappear into the canopy never to be spotted by a visitor again!
in melbourne they are kept in very similar enclosures the to red pandas, binturongs and coatis. these consist of outdoor exhibits with a low waist height wall with metal plates to make it "climb proof" on the inside. however the tree kangaroos can jump so the zoo tends lower the ground level near the walls to add an extra couple of feet to the height on the kangaroo side.
the goodfellow's here also have large heated stilt "houses" with perspex windows. and obviously plenty of climbing opportunities and usually access to a live tree (which they demolish).
the animals used to have a much better, larger exhibit that had in part head-high simple wire fences the animals obviously found difficult to climb.
unfortunately this modern exhibit (that also featured cassowaries next door) was demolished to make way for the orangutan sanctuary.
they also happily shared this exhibit with echidnas - which made it much more interesting. back in the late 90's i remember the zoo housed the tree-kangaroos along with grey dorcospis wallabies.
in any event the animals are almost always active and not at all shy. they are a very popular exhibit and have become a species melbourne prides itself on, in the category of its gorillas, orangs, elephants and sumatran tigers..
now they just need to build another new guinea exhibit!!!
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