Tree kangaroo enclosure design

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beccabecca7

New Member
For part of my degree I have to design an enclosure which could house Goodfellow's tree kangaroos.

After doing some research on enclosures found in other zoos throughout the world I am particularly keen on the enclosure at both the Taronga Zoo and the Detroit Zoo.

However, in all the photos/diagrams I have seen of outdoor enclosures I haven't noticed any walls in particular or a 'ceiling' so to speak. I would have thought this would be necessary because they can jump from so high and could potentially jump out of a tree and escape? Maybe I'm being silly...

Any info anyone has would be an incredible help!
 
I am not aware of the enclosures at those zoos, but based on experience with our animals:

Tree Kangaroos (or Goodfellow's at least) are simple climbers. They are not particularly agile, and their tail is not prehensile at all. I have never seen one of ours jump horizontally from one perch/branch to another - to move sideways, they have always reached out to grab hold of the destination before moving (greatly limiting the distance they can reach to a couple of feet, maximum).

Jumping to the ground is another matter. They can theoretically jump down from about 15 metres without injury, although 8m is about the maximum we have seen.

Any really large trees may be guarded so that they can only climb so high, but this is not really necessary. If they were able to climb out onto any lowish branches which were overhanging the perimeter boundary, they could escape. There would need to be a boundary fence of some sort, but it could be reasonably basic to contain tree roos.
 
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