Researchers discover ancient tree-climbing kangaroos, affectionately call them 'Climberoo'

In a first, a team of experts in Australia have identified a previously unknown species of Kangaroo that spent half their lives on trees. Named 'Congruus Kitcheneri' the marsupial species weighed approximately 60 kilograms and would climb tree branches in the quest for "plant products" not available to the land-bound species, as per researchers. The researchers affectionately call them 'Climberoo'.

The new species was discovered by researcher duo Dr Natalie Warburton and Professor Gavin Prideaux, who analysed the bones of two huge ancient kangaroos. The fossils were first unearthed by cavers Paul Devine and Eve Taylor in the Thylacoleo caves on the Nullarbor Plain. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Dr Warburton asserted that their analysis of the skeletons, including several cranial and two near-complete skeletons, suggested that the Kangaroo species could climb and slowly move through trees in search of food. Meanwhile, her colleague Professor Prideaux described their potential looks. 

Image: nature.com

'Like a giant baboon' 

He said that the species would have looked “more robust and stocky” as compared to the Eastern Grey Kangaroo, found across the Australian continent today. Likening it to a “giant baboon,” he added that it speculated it to have “very solid arms, big mitts with big, long, sharped, curved claws.” Additionally, he said that the species would have had “powerful arm muscles” to raise and hold themselves up in trees along with a “longer, mobile neck” to facilitate browsing leaves on treetops. The species is believed to have gone into extinction nearly 40,000 years ago. 

“Standing at around one metre tall and weighing about 50 kilograms, C. kitcheneri was smaller than some of its extinct giant relatives, but larger than most living marsupial species. Unlike its big-framed cousins, C. kitcheneri had a particularly mobile shoulder joint, large hands and feet with curved claws, and arm muscles specialized for drawing the forelimbs towards the body,” a description of the species published in British Journal Nature revealed. 

(Representational Image/ Credits: Unsplash)