Quokka's

Authority has been gained from the Rottnest Island Authority to show these images and information.

Quokka's are a marsupial, they have a pouch and give birth to an undeveloped baby.

Quokka's are herbivores and come out of there shelters at night to feed. This species of Quokka found on Rottnest Island off Perth are the only wild Quokka's remaining in the world.

The quokka is approx 41cm-54cm long not including the tail and weighs approx 2.5-4.2kg.

Go to our Threatened and Endangered pages to learn more about this animal.

The hands allow the quokka to hold or pull down a plant to eat.

Their long soft feet allow them to spring and bound turning and dodging. Although in a panic I did see a quokka leap right on top of another one when trying to flee.

Quokka Tracks

These are the Quokka's tracks. Because their foot is long it spreads out the weight and impact of bounding over the ground which is a lot more gentle on the ground.

Like a Kangaroo the Quokka moves both its back feet together. If its sniffing around for food it may balance on its front feet but if it is moving fast it will bound on its hind feet.

Go here to see our video of the Quokka's walking at Rottnest Island.

Quokka scats (Poo)

Measures from 10-20mm in length. They look like other macropod scats just smaller.

Surprisingly the Quokka scats are larger than the Tammar wallaby scats which is a much larger animal.

This Tammar Wallaby was photographed at Perup Ecology Centre in the South-west of Western Australia

This is a quokka's skull I found and photographed on the island. ( It is not permitted to remove bones from any National Park).

You can see the lower incisor teeth pointing out straight on the bottom jaw, at the front.

This is the Pelvis and the spine from another quokka.

Measuring 105 mm long x 50 mm wide

Quokka's upper jaw skull

Measures 60mm in length x 38mm wide. The upper jaw has a total of 6 upper front teeth and 4 molars at the back on both sides (16 molars in total).

Quokka's lower jaw skull

They do not have canine teeth as the Quokka browses and grazes on plants.

This is the type of shelter a quokka will make either in sedges, grass or small bushes. They will usually be close to water but the quokka will have to travel some distance to get food as they go through the seasons.

This is the Quokka's habitat. Rottnest Island is approx 1,900 ha.

It is a limestone island.