Quokka
Setonix brachyurus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1830)
The quokka (Setonix brachyurus), also called the Short-tailed wallaby, is a marsupial mammal in the family Macropodidae and the order Diprotodontia. It is a medium-sized, terrestrial, nocturnal herbivore with an adult body mass of 3.25 kg.
Quick facts about the quokka
Gestation lasts 27 days, females have 1 young per litter and 1.4 litters per year, and sexual maturity comes at 368 days (1.0 years). Checklists record it in Australia, and it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, an IUCN threatened category.
- Weight
- 2.82 kg – 3.25 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 12 years – 13.8 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- coastal, forestsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 27 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 11.4 months – 12.8 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.4src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Photos of the quokka
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the quokka live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The quokka is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the quokka?
The quokka (; Setonix brachyurus) is a macropod native to Australia. It is about the size of a domestic cat. It is the only member of the genus Setonix. Like other marsupials in the macropod family (such as kangaroos and wallabies), the quokka is herbivorous and mainly nocturnal.
The quokka's range is a small area of southwestern Australia. They inhabit some smaller islands off the coast of Western Australia, particularly Rottnest Island just off Perth and Bald Island near Albany. Isolated, scattered populations also exist in forest and coastal heath between Perth and Albany. A small colony inhabits a protected area of Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, where they coexist with the critically endangered Gilbert's potoroo.
From the Wikipedia article “Quokka” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quokka&oldid=1381393585), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the quokka endangered?
The quokka is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.
How is the quokka classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderDiprotodontia
- familyMacropodidae
- genusSetonix
- SpeciesSetonix brachyurus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1830)
Synonyms Kangurus brachyurus
Other names and names in other languages (13)
- Short-tailed wallabyEnglish
- Short-tailed wallabyEnglish
- كوكاArabic
- klokan quokkaCzech
- KurzschwanzkänguruGerman
- ΚουόκαGreek
- kvokkaFinnish
- クアッカワラビーJapanese
- KorthalewallabyNorwegian Bokmål
- kuoka krótkoogonowaPolish
- КвоккаRussian
- KuokaTurkish
- 短尾袋鼠Chinese
Relatives of the quokka
Other species in the same family Macropodidae.
Eastern grey kangaroo
Macropus giganteus
Sooty kangaroo
Macropus fuliginosus
Black wallaby
Wallabia bicolor
Ornate tree-kangaroo
Dendrolagus goodfellowi
Maning
Lagostrophus fasciatus
Agile wallaby
Notamacropus agilis
CompareQuokka vs Eastern grey kangarooQuokka vs Sooty kangarooQuokka vs Black wallabyQuokka vs Ornate tree-kangaroo
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is a quokka?
The quokka is a marsupial mammal in the family Macropodidae, order Diprotodontia. It is also called the Short-tailed wallaby.
How heavy is a quokka?
An adult Quokka has a body mass of 3.25 kg, which places it in the medium size class.
What does a quokka eat?
The quokka is a herbivore.
Is the quokka endangered?
The quokka is listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List, which is an IUCN threatened category.
How long does a quokka live?
The quokka has a lifespan of 12 years, with values up to 13.8 years reported.
Which countries is the quokka recorded in?
Checklists record the quokka in Australia.
How many young does a quokka have?
A quokka has 1 young per litter and 1.4 litters per year, after a gestation of 27 days.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Quokka (Setonix brachyurus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/quokka
“Quokka (Setonix brachyurus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/quokka.
@misc{quokka_2026,
title = {Quokka (Setonix brachyurus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/quokka},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}