Marsupial Spotlight: Quokka

Good lord! How did I miss this little guy?! Yes, I haven't done a Marsupial Spotlight in a while. I had moved on to other animals. I ran into this fellow rather suddenly today and decided that I would be a fool to pass up the opportunity. Meet the quokka.

The quokka is a marsupial macropod which simply means it has a pouch like a kangaroo does. It is very small--about the side of a house cat. More specifically, the creature is up to 21 inches long with a 11.8 inch tail. This is amazingly short for a macropod. They are very stocky, and most people think they look like miniature kangaroos. They are mainly found on the islands off the coast of Western Australia but can also be seen on the mainland.

The quokkas are herbivores. They feed mainly on vegetation as well as grasses and leaves. A lot of tourists like to feed them; however, this is discouraged. Anything but their natural food tends to make them ill. I also want to mention that quokkas are very popular with humans, and I will get back to that in a moment.

When quoakkas breed, they always give birth to one baby called a joey. This will happen generally twice a year. The joey will live in its mother's pouch for 6 months. Once free of the pouch, it still relies on it's mother's milk for 2 more months. It can have its own babies at 1.5 years old.

The International Union for Conversation of Nature gives the quokka a rating of VU which means Vulnerable. The quokkas are unfortunately being hunted on the mainland by foxes, cats, and dogs. The ones on the islands, however, do not have this problem. They still have to deal with snakes, but it is not as bad as on the mainland.

Probably the most notable aspect of the quokka is how they have absolutely no fear of human beings. They will just let you walk up and pet them. A very popular thing to do for tourists is to take a selfie with a quokka and upload it to social media. The animal seems to smile and appear enthusiastic like it is making a new friend. It is very cute. Almost too cute.

I don't know of any quokkas in fiction, but I can see them as very outgoing individuals that want to make friends with everybody. The selfies really cinched it for me. I can see one coming up to me saying, "I couldn't help but see you were alone and I thought I might come over to give you some company." That is what a quokka is to me.

I made sure to find some quokka selfies for you. Check out the images and enjoy this very adorable marsupial from Australia.

Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoyed it, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Snap!