The quokka (''Setonix brachyurus'', )
is a small
macropod about the size of a
domestic cat
The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members o ...
. It is the
only member of the genus ''Setonix''. Like other
marsupial
Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...
s in the macropod family (such as
kangaroo
Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
s and
wallabies
A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...
), the quokka is
herbivorous and mainly
nocturnal
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...
.
Quokkas are found on some smaller islands off the coast of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
, particularly
Rottnest Island
Rottnest Island ( nys, Wadjemup), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class ...
just off
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
and
Bald Island
Bald Island is an island that is located in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The island is offshore from Cheynes Beach and is a protected area managed by the Department of Parks and Wildlife.
The island is a World Conservati ...
near
Albany. Isolated, scattered populations also exist in forest and coastal heath between Perth and Albany. A small colony inhabits a protected area of
Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, where they co-exist with the critically endangered
Gilbert's potoroo.
Description
A quokka weighs and is long with a tail, which is quite short for a macropod. It has a stocky build, well developed hind legs, rounded ears, and a short, broad head. Its musculoskeletal system was originally adapted for terrestrial bipedal saltation, but over its evolution, its system has been built for arboreal locomotion. Although looking rather like a very small kangaroo, it can climb small trees and
shrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
s up to . Its coarse fur is a grizzled brown colour, fading to buff underneath. The quokka is known to live for an average of 10 years.
Quokkas are nocturnal animals; they sleep during the day in ''
Acanthocarpus preissii
''Acanthocarpus preissii'' is a rhizomatous perennial that occurs on coastal dunes in Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia exclu ...
,'' using the plants' spikes for protection and hiding.
Quokkas have a promiscuous
mating system. After a month of gestation, females give birth to a single baby called a joey. Females can give birth twice a year and produce about 17 joeys during their lifespan.
The joey lives in its mother's pouch for six months. Once it leaves the pouch, the joey relies on its mother for milk for two more months and is fully weaned around eight months after birth.
Females sexually mature after roughly 18 months. When a female quokka with a joey in her pouch is pursued by a predator, she may drop her baby onto the ground; the joey produces noises which may serve to attract the predator's attention, while the mother escapes.
Discovery and name
![Quokka family](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Quokka_family.jpg)
The word "quokka" is originally derived from a
Noongar
The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...
word, which was probably . Today, the
Noongar people
The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...
refer to them as ban-gup, bungeup and quak –a.
In 1658, Dutch mariner Samuel Volckertzoon wrote of sighting "a wild cat" on the island.
In 1696, Dutch explorer
Willem de Vlamingh
Willem Hesselsz de Vlamingh (November 1640 – ) was a Dutch sea captain who explored the central west coast of New Holland ( Australia) in the late 17th century, where he landed in what is now Perth on the Swan River. The mission proved fruit ...
mistook them for giant rats, and renamed the Wadjemup island , which means "the rat nest island" in Dutch.
Ecology
During the Pleistocene period, quokkas were more abundant and living on open landscapes. When the Europeans arrived in Australia, they introduced new species, some of which became predators to the quokkas. This caused the habitats of quokkas to eventually shift to islands and forests, where there were minimal predators and more vegetation. In the wild, the quokka's roaming is restricted to a very small
range
Range may refer to:
Geography
* Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra)
** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands
* Range, a term used to i ...
in the
South West
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
of Western Australia, with a number of small scattered populations. One large population exists on
Rottnest Island
Rottnest Island ( nys, Wadjemup), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class ...
and a smaller population is on
Bald Island
Bald Island is an island that is located in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The island is offshore from Cheynes Beach and is a protected area managed by the Department of Parks and Wildlife.
The island is a World Conservati ...
near
Albany. The islands are free of certain predators such as
red fox
The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...
es and cats. On Rottnest, quokkas are common and occupy a variety of
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s, ranging from semiarid scrub to cultivated gardens.
Prickly
''Acanthocarpus'' plants, which are unaccommodating for humans and other relatively large animals to walk through, provide their favorite daytime shelter for sleeping.
[ Additionally, they are known for their ability to climb trees.]
Diet
Like most macropods, quokkas eat many types of vegetation, including grasses, sedges and leaves. A study found that '' Guichenotia ledifolia'', a small shrub species of the family Malvaceae
Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...
, is one of the quokka's favoured foods. Rottnest Island visitors are urged to never feed quokkas, in part because eating "human food" such as chips can cause dehydration and malnourishment, both of which are detrimental to the quokka's health. Despite the relative lack of fresh water on Rottnest Island, quokkas do have high water requirements, which they satisfy mostly through eating vegetation. On the mainland, quokkas only live in areas that have or more of rain per year. The quokkas chew their cud, similar to cows.
Population
At the time of colonial settlement, the quokka was widespread and abundant, with its distribution encompassing an area of about of the South West of Western Australia, including the two offshore islands, Bald and Rottnest. By 1992, following extensive population declines in the 20th century, the quokka's distribution on the mainland had been reduced by more than 50% to an area of about .[
Despite being numerous on the small, offshore islands, the quokka is classified as vulnerable. On the mainland, where it is threatened by introduced predatory species such as red foxes, cats, and dogs, it requires dense ground cover for refuge. Clearfell logging, agricultural development, and housing expansion have reduced their habitat, contributing to the decline of the species, as has the clearing and burning of the remaining swamplands. Moreover, quokkas usually have a litter size of one and successfully rear one young each year. Although they are constantly mating, usually one day after the young are born, the small litter size, along with the restricted space and threatening predators, contributes to the scarcity of the species on the mainland.]
An estimated 4,000 quokkas live on the mainland, with nearly all mainland populations being groups of fewer than 50, although one declining group of over 700 occurs in the southern forest between Nannup and Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
. In 2015, an extensive bushfire near Northcliffe nearly eradicated one of the local mainland populations, with an estimated 90% of the 500 quokkas dying.
In 2007, the quokka population on Rottnest Island was estimated at between 8,000 and 12,000. Snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...
s are the quokka's only predator on the island. The population on smaller Bald Island, where the quokka has no predators, is 600–1,000. At the end of summer and into autumn, a seasonal decline of quokkas occurs on Rottnest Island, where loss of vegetation and reduction of available surface water can lead to starvation.
This species saw the most significant decline from 1930 to the 1990s, when their distribution was reduced by over half. The quokka markedly declined in its abundance and distribution in the early 1930s, and this tendency has continued till today. Their presence on the mainland has declined to such an extent that they are only found in small groups in bushland surrounding Perth.
The quokka is now listed as vulnerable in accordance with the IUCN criteria.
Human interaction
Quokkas have little fear of humans and commonly approach people closely, particularly on Rottnest Island, where they are abundant. Though quokkas are approachable, there are a few dozen cases annually of quokkas biting people, especially children. There are restrictions regarding feeding. It is illegal for members of the public to handle the animals in any way, and feeding, particularly of "human food", is especially discouraged, as they can easily get sick. An infringement notice carrying a $300 fine can be issued by the Rottnest Island Authority for such an offence. The maximum penalty for animal cruelty is a $50,000 fine and a five-year prison sentence. In addition to restrictions on human interactions with Quokkas, they have been tested to be potentially harmful to humans with their high salmonella infection rates, especially in the summer heat. This has been proven and experimented by scientists who have taken blood tests on wild Quokkas on Rottnest Island.
Quokkas can also be observed at several zoos and wildlife parks around Australia, including Perth Zoo, Taronga Zoo
Taronga Zoo is a zoo located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in the suburb of Mosman, on the shores of Sydney Harbour. The opening hours are between 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Taronga is an Aboriginal word meaning 'beautiful water view'.
It ...
, Wild Life Sydney
Wild Life Sydney Zoo (formerly Sydney Wildlife World) is a wildlife park in the Darling Harbour precinct, on the western edge of the Sydney central business district, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Opened in September 2006, the zoo is l ...
, and Adelaide Zoo. Physical interaction is generally not permitted without explicit permission from supervising staff.
Quokka behavior in response to human interaction has been examined in zoo environments. One brief study indicated fewer animals remained visible from the visitor paths when the enclosure was an open or walk-through environment. This may have been due to the quokkas acquiring avoidance behavior of visitors, which the authors propose has implications for stress management in their exhibition to the public.
Quokka selfies
In the mid-2010s, quokkas earned a reputation on the internet as "the world's happiest animals" and symbols of positivity, as frontal photos of their faces make them appear to be smiling (they do not, in fact "smile" in the human sense; this can be attributed to their natural facial structures). Many photos of smiling quokkas have since gone viral, and the "quokka selfie
A selfie () is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or smartphone, which may be held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social media, via social networking services such as F ...
" has become a popular social media trend, with celebrities such as Chris Hemsworth, Shawn Mendes, Margot Robbie, Roger Federer and Kim Donghyuk of iKON taking part in the activity. Tourist numbers to Rottnest Island have subsequently increased.[
]
See also
* Pademelon
Pademelons are small, furry, hopping mammals in the genus ''Thylogale'', found in Australia and New Guinea. They are some of the smallest members of the macropod family (Macropodidae), which includes the similar-looking but larger kangaroos an ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q726151
Endemic fauna of Southwest Australia
Macropods
Mammals described in 1830
Mammals of Western Australia
Marsupials of Australia
Rottnest Island
Vulnerable fauna of Australia