The head is small, with a flat muzzle, the arms are powerful for climbing, the hind legs are long and the feet are large for an arboreal animal.

Its range includes the Foja Mountains and the Bird's Head Peninsula and it occurs on the offshore islands of Yapen, Waigeo, Misool and Salawati, and possibly Batanta.

[6] The reproduction of this tree kangaroo has been little studied but breeding seems to take place once a year with a single young remaining in the female's pouch for about nine months.

It is hunted for food and for the pet trade by the indigenous people and its habitat is being lost as forest is cleared for small-scale agriculture and to make way for plantations of oil palm.

The animals living in the northern coastal mountain range are particularly threatened, but there is a community initiative there focusing on conservation of tree kangaroos.