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Quokka — printable fact sheet
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Animal Fact Sheet
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Quokka
Setonix brachyurus
The quokka's fame as "the world's happiest animal" is a trick of anatomy rather than temperament: the shape of its mouth and cheeks makes it appear to smile no matter what it is doing, and the internet has read a mood into a fixed facial structure. It is a small wallaby, roughly…
Did you know?
- Quokkas can breed twice a year and, like other marsupials, can pause embryo development if conditions are unfavorable—a process called embryonic diapause.
- The quokka's "smile" is a fixed feature of its mouth shape, not a mood — it looks cheerful whatever it is doing. Unusually for a wallaby, it climbs trees to reach leaves. It can carry a dormant embryo in reserve, ready to develop if it loses its joey. Rottnest Island literally means "rat's nest" — a Dutch explorer mistook quokkas for giant rats.
What I learned
Draw the quokka
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