If you’ve ever wondered where Rottnest Island got it’s name, you need to look no further than the furry little fellow on the left.
It’s a quokka and they’re everywhere on the island.
The story goes that Dutch explorer De Vlamingh thought they were a kind of rat and hence named the island “Rottenest” (Dutch for “rat nest”) in 1696.
Quokkas are found in some mainland areas but aren’t as plentiful as they are on Rottnest.
There has been a big effort over many years to stop visitors from feeding the quokkas and this, together with other measures, has seen the health of the animals improve greatly.
The quokkas are so tame that we had to keep the front gate of our holiday unit closed or we’d have a couple wandering inside to say hello.
Although it’s probably a little hard to get any perspective on the size of the quokka on the right, it was a very young animal, about the size of a kitten.
Unfortunately touching quokkas is frowned upon an can attract sizeable fines. Otherwise I’d pick one up for a cuddle right away.
(Click on the photos for a better look.)
Posted by Rodney Olsen
Technorati Tags: Quokka – Rottnest
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Hi Rodney,
what a cute animal! And what a funny, pleasant name quokka is!
Maybe that Dutch explorer wasn´t even offending when he referred to a rat, naming the island – I saw a wild rar recently. It was shy and didn´t come near but I could see a friendly, attentive face.
Yup quokkas are cute and friendly, until they try to steal your food! And given half the chance they will. Especially if it has sugar in it.
I went to Rotto for a school camp in year 10. Punishment for people who misbehaved was helping clear the lawn of quokka droppings. Let’s just say there are a lot of quokkas so there are a lot of droppings. Not the most pleasant punishment. But I guess that was just more of a motivation to behave.
So, are they still a type of rodent, or arethey related to rabbits or what? Marsupials?
I want one!!!! How come you guys over there get all the cool animals?? No fair!
They are great animals and yes, they do try to steal food, but they’re not vicious about it. 🙂 They’re very friendly.
They are definitely marsupials.