Where Kangaroos Live in Trees

In search of rare animals

“Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo” by Eric Gropp is licensed under CC by 2.0

People often make day trips from Cairns to the Atherton Tablelands for the waterfalls and the weather. The elevation (750 metres) knocks off a few degrees from the torrid temperatures of the coast. But the area is a great place to see wildlife. We have all the Wet Tropics endemic birds, some rare reptiles and frogs, and a collection of remarkable mammals, including the rare Musky Rat-kangaroo (Hypsiprymnodon moschatus), Green Ringtail Possum (Pseudochirops archeri), and — perhaps the most intriguing of them all — Lumholtz’s Tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus lumholtzi).

I wrote about them for the Guardian’s travel section. You can read it here. (No paywall.)

Most beautiful mammal? Tailing tree-kangaroos in Queensland's Atherton Tablelands

The Ulysses butterfly brings us to a halt. We are on the Atherton Tablelands, south-west of Cairns, to look for the rare and elusive Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo, but the incandescent blue, sparking with each wing beat, is impossible to ignore.

The butterfly dances along the rainforest edge, azure iridescence alternating with the dead-leaf dullness of the underwing. Then…