The Quokka

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Behavior
Nature
Biodiversity
Edward Hessler

This Atlantic cinematic short documentary film (22 m 56 s) takes us to Rottnest Island (aka "Rotty"), off the coast of western Australia, to introduce the quokka (Setonix brachyurus), a relative of the kangaroo family. It is unafraid of humans and appears to smile for pictures.

So, of course, the quokka then becomes "the world's happiest animal." Filmmaker David Freid says "When you see one, it's a bonafide heart melter." He describes the film as a "quokkumentary."

The island's name is from the Dutch for"rat's nest." Dutch sea captain Willem de Vlamingh who visited the island in the early 1700s, in a case of mistaken identity, "dubbed (quokkas as) "a kind of rat as big as a common cat."