Content
- Taxonomic classification of quokka
- Quokka Characteristics
- Why is the quokka the happiest animal in the world?
- quokka habitat
- quokka behavior
- quokka food
- Quokka reproduction
- Quokka conservation status
See how the quokka smiles! You probably made this comment when you saw photos and videos of 'smiling' quokkas, one of the most viral animal posts of recent years on the internet. But is there really happiness behind the selfies taken with these wild animals?
Continue reading this PeritoAnimal article to learn more about one of Australia's 10 rarest animals, the quokka, its characteristics, habitat and conservation status.
Taxonomic classification of quokka
To get to know the curious quokkas better, it is interesting to start with their taxonomic classification. This allows us to place them between the different mammal subclasses, as all anatomical characteristics will depend on its evolution and taxonomic classification:
- Kingdom: Animals
- Phylum: Strings
- Subphylum: Vertebrates
- Class: Mammals
- Subclass: Theria
- Infraclass: Marsupials
- Order: Diprotodons
- Family: Macropodidae
- Genre: Setonix
- Species (scientific name of quokka): Setonix brachyurus
Now that we have taxonomically located the quokka, the only species of the genus Setonix, let's see in the next sections what its main features are.
Quokka Characteristics
Because they are marsupials, the quokka chicks are born prematurely and they complete their development in the marsupium or marsupial pouch, obtaining the maternal food they need to continue growing through the mammary glands to which they attach to breastfeed.
During their movement, quokkas tend to jump as they run, as do other macropodidia animals such as the kangaroo. On the other hand, quokkas are characterized by having only two incisors in the mandibles, thus belonging to the order of diprotodons, as we saw in their taxonomic classification.
Why is the quokka the happiest animal in the world?
This curious fact is due to the fact that the quokka is really very photogenic, and always seems to be smiling in the photographs they take of him. A fact that is undoubtedly due to what is considered in ethology as the attribution of human qualities to animals.
quokka habitat
To see quokkas in their natural habitat, we would have to travel to the Western Australia, specifically for what is commonly known as the "quokka islands", Rottnest Island and Bald Island.
There, the quokka can be found in eucalyptus forests (Eucalyptus marginata), blood wood (Corymbia calophylla) and riverine habitats dominated by sediment, low bush and warm thicket, as well as in the interior of swamps and wetlands where coarse tea trees (linear taxandry) are plentiful.
quokka behavior
the quokka are land animals which usually are social, tending to approach the humans they encounter in their natural habitat in a curious way.
But, in addition to being friendly with human beings, they also exhibit this behavior with other individuals of their species, even preferring live in groups.
On the other hand, quokka tend to remain in their natural island habitats year-round, no need to migrate to find better weather conditions.
quokka food
When it comes to food, the quokka prefers to follow night habits. They follow an herbivorous diet, as do other marsupials, chewing many leaves, grasses and branches from the forests, shrubs and swamps they inhabit.
They take advantage of plant nutrients that they can't digest, slowing down your metabolism, thus choosing to consume a smaller amount of food that they can assimilate without any problem.
Quokka reproduction
Quokka are marsupials and therefore live animals, following the type of sexual reproduction. However, they have some exceptions within viviparity, as they lack a placenta, causing embryos to be born prematurely.
The solution for these premature births is based on the use of a marsupial or marsupial pouch. As soon as they are born, the chicks crawl through the marsupium until they reach the mammary glands or nipples, to which they cling to get the food they need to continue growing by suction, completing their development in the marsupial pouch until they are ready for a more independent life.
Quokka conservation status
The current population of quokkas is declining and the species is in a vulnerable conservation status according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List. It is estimated that there are between 7,500 and 15,000 adult individuals and this population is heavily fragmented, mainly due to the fact that they live on islands.
Numerous conservation studies of quokkas point to the importance of identifying potential refuges for this vulnerable species. In other words, areas where species could persist depending on environmental conditions and risks, thus defining management strategies to protect these areas from threatening processes.
Such processes that threaten the survival of the quokka include displacement from its natural habitats, influenced by the use of biological resources by neighboring human populations through activities such as logging. In addition, the persecution by populations of foxes, one of its main predators, prevents the number of quokka from increasing, despite its high fecundity.
Due to the great popularity of photographs and selfies taken by people with the quokka in recent years, these animals have become stressed. As a result of human insistence and their approach to these animals, they end up interrupting their natural feeding, resting and mating cycles. In addition, the quokka is facing another big problem: the risks of climate changes, which brings severe changes in climate, such as droughts and fires, which significantly alter the quokka's natural habitat.
Now that you know all about quokka, be sure to check out the following video where we talk about what happens to animals in fires in Australia:
If you want to read more articles similar to Quokka - Characteristics, habitat and conservation status, we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.