Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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Quokka

If I could have any pet at all I’d have a quokka.

I once heard Tim Flannery say in a radio interview that they make excellent pets and that we would be doing them a favour by bringing them into our homes. Flannery reckons that a sure fire ticket to species survival is domestication. You don’t hear much about cows, horses, cats, dogs or pigs being on the verge of extinction, do you?

So there you have it. I wants a quokka.

quokka2.jpg

Posted by Justine at 0:02, 29 November 2007 under State of the World, Sydney/Australia | 21 Comments »

Comments

  1. janet Says:

    awwww.

    alice has a book called “diary of a wombat.” in it, the wombat concludes “have decided that humans are easily trained and make quite good pets.” perhaps this intelligence should be passed on to the quokka community.

    good scrabble word, also.

    November 29th, 2007 at 1:23 AM

  2. Cat Sparks Says:

    CUTE! I’d get one only my cats would probably eat it.

    November 29th, 2007 at 2:08 AM

  3. dragonfly Says:

    very cute!! my cats wouldn’t eat it, they’d very likely be terrified of it. (i have scaredy cats. :P )

    November 29th, 2007 at 5:25 AM

  4. calliope Says:

    i want one! they’re even cuter than a dog :-)

    November 29th, 2007 at 6:16 AM

  5. Patrick, The Space Lord Says:

    ooh that there looks like some good eatin’

    November 29th, 2007 at 6:23 AM

  6. chrisbarnes Says:

    i agree. native animals should be pets (under properly managed conditions etc blah blah) and then we’d still have plenty of bandicoots and bilbies and such. I for one would like a pademelon, though a quokka would also be cute.

    November 29th, 2007 at 6:36 AM

  7. David Moles Says:

    And it’s illegal to pet them? Unfair!

    November 29th, 2007 at 6:55 AM

  8. Dess Says:

    *gasp* i want one!

    November 29th, 2007 at 2:44 PM

  9. Kenina-chan Says:

    Awwwww! It is so cute!

    November 29th, 2007 at 3:44 PM

  10. margo Says:

    Weird that you mention this now. This was in the paper on Monday: http://www.smh.com.au/news/SPORT/Force-players-caught-with-quokkas/2007/11/26/1196036799171.html

    And quokkas hardly ever make the news.

    November 29th, 2007 at 3:45 PM

  11. Kadie-Wa Says:

    OMG!! sooo cute! Holy cow, those are adorible!! Aw…cute!

    Are they only in Australia?

    November 29th, 2007 at 3:45 PM

  12. Mike Says:

    As a lapsed West Australian it’s my duty to report that quokkas are native only to Rottnest Island near Perth, named by Dutch sailors who landed in the 18th century. The sailors thought the quokkas reminded them of an animal that may have been found in the hull of the ship…Guess which. Rottnest is the essential place to go for post-high school celebrations. Like now. Beautiful beaches.

    November 29th, 2007 at 4:35 PM

  13. Lydia Says:

    awwww!

    It looks like a little mini kangaroo!

    November 29th, 2007 at 5:56 PM

  14. Rosalie (no, seriously) Says:

    OMG!!!! so adorable!!! I want to kidnapp it and kiss it and dress it up in a bonnet!!!

    November 29th, 2007 at 7:02 PM

  15. Mary Elizabeth S. Says:

    ooh, ooh, i want to help ensure the survival of quokkas, too! i’d like a girl one, please.

    ~mary

    November 29th, 2007 at 9:24 PM

  16. robin cave Says:

    Justine, I think you’ll find there is a law in New York State banning quokkas on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays… plus you would need a good supply of whitchety grubs to feed them.

    November 29th, 2007 at 10:49 PM

  17. sylvia_rachel Says:

    oh! the cute! :)

    November 30th, 2007 at 9:05 AM

  18. MooseGuy Says:

    I’ve been to rottnest. i was so close to sneaking one into my backpack. they’re SO ADOWABLE!

    November 30th, 2007 at 8:51 PM

  19. Erin Says:

    I want one for a pet, too.

    December 1st, 2007 at 12:25 AM

  20. Mike Says:

    Yet more quokka sightings: I’m reading Where is Here? 350 years of exploring Australia edited by (ta-dah!) Tim Flannery. Willem de Vlamingh, the first white fella to land on Rotto in 1696 observed “there are few if any birds to be seen and no animals except a kind of rat as large as a common cat, whose dung is to be found all over the island”. But of course they weren’t called quokkas then, were they?

    Weird. Quokkas, like busses. None for ages then suddenly they’re everywhere.

    December 3rd, 2007 at 12:03 AM

  21. Katie Says:

    oh my god, they are so cute!!!

    December 3rd, 2007 at 7:53 PM

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