You'll Be Dying To Get A Quokka When You Read These 10 Facts About The Mini Marsupial

by N/A, 10 years ago | 2 min read

I'll just go ahead and make the prediction now: the Quokka is about to take the place of cats for the internet's favorite animal. QUOKKA 2016!!!

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1. Quokkas are members of the macropod family, which means "big foot."

Kangaroos and Wallabies also belong to the macropod family.

2. Quokkas are marsupials, which means, among other things, that they have pouches to carry around their young.

3. Willem de Vlamingh, the first to discribe Quokkas as "a kind of rat as big as a cat."

And very cute, at that.

4. Most Quokkas live on Rottnest Island, which translates from the Dutch "Rotte nest" to mean "rat's nest."

Because, you know, they're giant cat-rats. They're the only land mammal on the island, which is located southwest of Australia.

5. Quokkas have little to no fear of humans.

This is apparently an adaptation–quokkas love to scavenge around campsites and beg for food.

6. Even though quokkas are extremely friendly, it's actually illegal to handle them.

And you can get a $300 fine for doing so.

7. Quokkas are family-oriented, but can be pretty ruthless as well.

Sometimes, while fleeing from a predator, a mother quokka will drop her baby from her pouch as a distraction to the predator. Damn, that's cold for such a cute animal.

8. Quokkas are mostly nocturnal.

All though they're frequently sighted out and about during the day, they do most of their business at night.

9. Quokkas are herbivores.

They love seeds, leaves, and lots of plants.

10. A quokka is about the size of the house cat, but they're illegal to own.

They're super cute and all, but they're got pretty gnarly claws, and they're classified as vulnerable. I know, we all want one. But the time is not yet right.