A cute and fun activity for kids to grow their creative and artistic skills featuring this week’s animal from Australia, the happy quokka!

Did you know that the quokka is known as the “world’s most cheerful animal”?

Why? Because it appears to always smile.  Quokka (kah-wah-kah) are small marsupials that live in Australia. A baby quokka is called a joey, and it will live in its mother’s pouch for a few months before it ventures outside to explore on its own.

Quokkas are also macropods, a term which means they have ‘big feet’.

Quokkas can swim and climb trees and shrubs. They aren’t afraid of people, but don’t feed or pet them. Feeding them can have a bad affect on their health, and petting them can cost you a lot of money in fines!

While quokkas live in large groups, they don’t often interact with each other. They usually live where there is food handy. They are herbivores, so they eat plants, and they seem to have a particular fondness for Guichenotia ledifolia which is a type of purple-white flower.

Don’t forget to watch and learn more about the happy quokka on our YouTube channel!