Meet the Quokka!
Published in
4 min readJun 3, 2022
The world's happiest animal!
Quokka!
The name is from an Aboriginal Nyungar language.
It is a marsupial mammal-the only member of the genus ‘Setonix brachyurus’.
The quokka is known as the "happiest animal in the world."
- It has a sweet nature.
- Docile temperament.
- Friendliness to humans.
- Smiling face.
On Rottnest Island, off the coast of Perth, the Quokka population has exploded! Thanks to newly expanded facilities to accommodate the influx of tourists to the island.
It started with a photo of a man & a quokka going viral. After that, visitors arrived in pursuit of quokka selfies!
History:
In 1658, Dutch explorers mistook the animals for giant rats. Thus, 'Rottnest' is the Dutch name for 'rat's nest.'
Wildlife biologist Veronica Phillips says these nocturnal marsupials altered their activity patterns to be awake during the day to scavenge food from tourists.
