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Quokkas Australia Zoo

Quokkas were one of the first Australian mammals seen by Europeans. In 1658 Dutch mariner Samuel Volckertzoon wrote of sighting "a wild cat" on Rottnest Island. De Vlamingh thought they were a kind of rat and hence named the island "Rottenest" (Dutch for "rat nest") in 1696.

Quokkas are marsupials and have rounded bodies with a short tail and a hunched posture. They have small rounded ears and a wide face that is much more flattened than that of other wallabies.

Once very common in areas such as the Swan Coastal Plain near Perth and Gingin, quokkas are now uncommon on the mainland and confined to isolated pockets within the south-west corner of WA. They are, however, found at Dwellingup, Jarrahdale, Harvey and Collie, in Stirling Range National Park and along the South Coast to Two Peoples Bay. They occur in large numbers on Rottnest Island, near Perth, and Bald Island, east of Albany.

On Rottnest Island, they inhabit low and scrubby coastal vegetation where water is not always available year round.

Quokkas on Rottnest have a well-developed pecking order. The males defend individual spaces and the older a male is the more authority he has. The males dominate the females and younger quokkas. Defined groups of 25 to 150 adults occupy shared territories, which they rarely leave. They breed once a year, and produce a single joey. Their low numbers on the mainland, compared with relatively large numbers in less than optimum habitat on fox-free Rottnest Island, suggest that mainland populations are heavily predated by foxes.

To see quokkas in the wild, catch a ferry to Rottnest Island, where they are readily seen during the day. They also live at Wellington Dam near Collie.