Ethnographer visits nature park to see wallaby named by his ancestor

National

THE Port Moresby Nature Park is the only wildlife facility in the world which manages a breeding programme for the Macleay’s dorcopsis wallaby, also known as the Papuan forest wallaby.
The wallaby is only found in Papua New Guinea where its natural habitat is tropical dry forests.
The Macleay’s dorcopsis was named by Russian explorer, biologist and anthropologist Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay, after Australian naturalist William John Macleay.
For three years, Miklouho-Maclay explored and carried out research on the environment and habitat in the Raicoast district of Madang.
He lived among the villagers of Gorendu and Bongu and learnt to speak their  dialect and understand the culture.
Last week, Miklouho-Maclay’s great-great-grandson, Ethnographer Nikolai Miklouho Maclay, arrived in PNG to see the legacy his relative had left behind.
He visited the Port Moresby Nature Park to see a Macleay’s dorcopsis wallaby, the species named by his namesake.
He also met Brett Smith, the curator of Nature Park.