Ecologyĭuring the Pleistocene period, quokkas were more abundant and living on open landscapes. In 1696, Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh mistook them for giant rats, and renamed the Wadjemup island 't Eylandt 't Rottenest, which means "the rat nest island" in Dutch. In 1658, Dutch mariner Samuel Volckertzoon wrote of sighting "a wild cat" on the island. Today, the Noongar people refer to them as ban-gup, bungeup and quak –a. ![]() ![]() The word "quokka" is originally derived from a Noongar word, which was probably gwaga. When a female quokka with a joey in her pouch is pursued by a predator, she may drop her baby onto the ground the joey produces noises which may serve to attract the predator's attention, while the mother escapes. Females sexually mature after roughly 18 months. Once it leaves the pouch, the joey relies on its mother for milk for two more months and is fully weaned around eight months after birth. The joey lives in its mother's pouch for six months. Females can give birth twice a year and produce about 17 joeys during their lifespan. After a month of gestation, females give birth to a single baby called a joey. Quokkas have a promiscuous mating system. Quokkas are nocturnal animals they sleep during the day in Acanthocarpus preissii, using the plants' spikes for protection and hiding. The quokka is known to live for an average of 10 years. Its coarse fur is a grizzled brown colour, fading to buff underneath. Although looking rather like a very small kangaroo, it can climb small trees and shrubs up to 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in). Its musculoskeletal system was originally adapted for terrestrial bipedal saltation, but over its evolution, its system has been built for arboreal locomotion. It has a stocky build, well developed hind legs, rounded ears, and a short, broad head. DescriptionĪ quokka weighs 2.5 to 5.0 kg (5.5 to 11 lb) and is 40 to 54 cm (16 to 21 in) long with a 25-to-30 cm-long (9.8-to-12 in) tail, which is quite short for a macropod. ![]() A small colony inhabits a protected area of Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, where they co-exist with the critically endangered Gilbert's potoroo. Isolated, scattered populations also exist in forest and coastal heath between Perth and Albany. Quokkas are found on some smaller islands off the coast of Western Australia, particularly Rottnest Island just off Perth and Bald Island near Albany. Like other marsupials in the macropod family (such as kangaroos and wallabies), the quokka is herbivorous and mainly nocturnal. It is the only member of the genus Setonix. The quokka ( / ˈ k w ɒ k ə/) ( Setonix brachyurus) is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat.
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