Quokkas - Australia's lovable marsupial

Scientists believe that marsupials evolved in Nth America, sp­read to Sth America and thence to Australia, formerly con­nected continents. Most marsu­p­ials died out in the Americas, beaten by placental mammals, but they thrived in Aust­ral­ia. By the time Sth America, Australia and Antarctica separated millions of years ago, Australian mammals had evolved.

A quokka family on Rottnest Island,

Wiki

Australian quokkas were first discovered by Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh in 1696. One of the first Eu­r­op­eans to reach these shores, he met the strange animal near the Swan River, and across mainland SW Aus­tr­a­l­ia in swampy shrub­lands. These quokkas were still abun­d­ant when Eur­op­eans col­­onised the reg­ion in the early 1800s, but a cen­tury later th­eir numb­ers had fallen. They were hunted and lost in large strips of min­ing, farming and bush­fires. The main enemy was the red fox, deliber­ately int­ro­d­uc­ed in the 1930s for hunting. Alas quokka num­bers on mainland fell to c2,000, most­ly liv­ing in small and isolated populat­ions in forest and coastal heath between Perth and Albany.

de Vlamingh had named the isl­and near the Swan River: Rat’s Nest. This is where most quokkas are now, on Rottnest Is­land west of Perth. Quokkas survived there via a fluke: In the late 1830s, the Aust­ralian gov­ern­ment de­­sig­n­ated the island as an Abor­iginal penal colony. The pr­ison kept both main­­­land Eu­ropeans AND red foxes isolated for so long that when quokkas did move in, the natural environ­ment was carefully prot­ected. Today Rot­t­nest has c10,000 quokkas.

The other quokka home in W.A is Bald Island, near Albany. Suc­cess on Bald Island was from quokkas finding plentiful food sources but few predators.

There are 334 surviving marsupial species today, 200+ of them nat­ive to Australia. Our quokkas are special; they are covered with short, coarse brown-grey fur over most of the body, have short round furry ears, small black, naked noses and a short, muscular tail. They are the smallest wallaby species, and like kangaroos, they hop, round­ed and hunch­ed.

Mother carrying joey in her pouch, San Diego Zoo

Unlike the vast major­ity of the world's placental mammals, mars­upial fe­m­ales give birth to tiny embryos that compl­ete de­velopment out­side their mothers' bodies in a mars­up­ium/pouch. Female quokkas give birth to a sing­­le joey a month after mating, the joey remaining in the pouch for c6 months. It continues to feed at its mother's teats for another 2 months but once weaned, the joey ventures off alone.

Quokkas are nocturnal. They fanned out in small family groups across their scrub­­by habitat searching for food. At midnight, the animals stop­ped forag­ing but con­tinue eating, chewing one leaf at a time until sun­rise. These crea­tures love to climb small trees in search of the next meal, browsing herbivores who favoured grasses, leaves, stems and bark. On Rott­nest Is, their diet is primarily succulents or wattle leav­es. They can go for long periods without food or water, as they store fat in their tails for emergencies. They spend their day sleeping in groups, rest­ing behind the protection of plants’ spikes and escaping predators.

Quokka climbs a tree to eat leaves. 

San Diego Zoo

Quokkas were recently added to the International Union for Con­ser­vation Threat­ed Species List, given their popul­ation decline due to hab­itat loss. Other serious threats were foxes, dogs and mainland cats, further damaging the creat­ures vulner­ab­le from Dingos c4,000 years ago and Eu­r­o­pean Red Foxes in 1930s. Today there are recovery signs on the main­land due to Dept of Parks & Wild­life’s feral-proofing tasks. Act­ion was taken to reduce Red Fox numbers, thus contributing to some quokka protection.

Human impact also effected quokka numbers. Clearing for agricultural dev­elopment, spread of housing and logging have contributed to reduced numbers, as well as camping, and controlled burns before the bushfire season.

A quokka weighs 2.5-5 ks and is 40-54 cs in length, one of the smallest wallab­ies. Main­land populations cluster around dense streamside veget­at­ion but also be found in shrub­land and heath areas, around swamps. Quok­kas prefer a warm climate but are adapted to changes on Rottnest Island.

Quokkas, on average, can live for 10-15 years. They are able to breed from c18 months of age. On the mainland, female Quokkas can produce c18 babies in a lifetime, with 2 joeys born each year. But on Rottnest Is, with a shorter breeding sea­son, Quokkas only give birth once a year.

Wild Quokkas live in areas defended by dominant mal­es. In other areas, territ­ories were less evident and larger, over­lapp­ing groups of 25–150 adults formed around water, sharing a c40-acre territory. The older males fight to dom­inate both fem­ales and youn­ger mal­es; a male's pos­it­ion in the hierar­chy deter­mining his access to food, shade and females

Quokkas are not afraid of humans; they have broken into Rottnest homes to steal food. The animals can be approached so closely that they regul­arly nip children’s fingertips. NB travellers should not actually touch any quokkas, or they could be fined by local authorities.

On the other side of the continent, visit Featherdale Wildlife Park in Western Sydney. And thank you to the Australian Museum in Sydney.