Quokka
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Quokka
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| COMMON NAME: | Quokka |
| LATIN NAME: | Setonix brachyurus |
| MEANING: | Setonix - "bristle-claw"; brachyurus - "short-tailed" |
| FOOD: | Grasses, leaves and succulents. They can survive for long periods without water and have been reported to be able to drink seawater. |
| HABITAT: | Wet and dry forests, woodlands and heath. |
| LOCALITY: | WA |
| LENGTH: | Body: 400-540 mm Tail: 245-310 mm |
| WEIGHT: | 2.4-3.3 kg |
| BEHAVIOUR: | Mainly active at night, resting in thick vegetation within overlapping home ranges. Males defend areas around their nest sites and may form long term bonds with females. Adults gather at night around waterholes within a group territory occupied and defended by 25-150 adults, who may fight for water in dry conditions. Adult males establish dominance hierarchies according to age in which females and juveniles have no rank. They move with a bounding step combined with short high-speed hopping bouts and may climb trees to reach twigs up to 2 m high. |
| DEVELOPMENT: | Females are sexually mature at 18-24 months and breed throughout the year on the mainland. On Rottnest Island breeding takes place from January to August. After a pregnancy of 25-28 days a single young is born and attaches to one of 4 teats in the mother's pouch. Young leave the pouch by 26 weeks and suckle for 2 months, living to 10 years or more. |
| DESCRIPTION: | The Quokka is a small, stout wallaby covered in long, dense and rough fur flecked grey and brown, with a dark stripe which may be seen on the forehead. The head is broad with small curved ears set on top while the tail is thick and sparsely-haired with visible scales. The hindfeet have no first digit, the second and third are joined with a double claw and the fourth is much longer than the others. |
