Discovered in Irian Jaya (Indonesian New Guinea) during 1994 by Australian Museum zoologist Dr Tim Flannery , the distinctive black-and-white whistling tree kangaroo known locally as the bondegezou now has a formal scientific name – Dendrolagus mbaiso. This is very apt, because mbaiso is a native word translating as 'forbidden', and the Moni tribe forbids its hunters from killing this species. The bondegezou is memorable not only as one of the largest new mammals to have been scientifically revealed in recent years, but also as a corporeal contradiction in terms – it is the only known species of semi-terrestrial tree kangaroo.
