Campbell Jones's Quokka Photographs From Rottnest Island

First published January 24, 2021.

Quokkas are strongly associated with Rottnest Island in popular photography. Their facial appearance has encouraged the nickname “the world’s happiest animal,” but that is a human description, not a measurement of their emotional state.

Outside Australia the animals were little known until pictures like these spread online. This archive feature follows a series of photographs shared after an encounter on the island. Their later circulation is part of the story, rather than evidence of how every quokka responds to people.

Campbell Jones was riding his bicycle on Western Australia's Rottnest Island when he came across a Quokka who took a special interest in him. Luckily he had his GoPro camera with him at the time and the pictures he captured are simply adorable.

The 21-year-old said that he believed his first interaction with the friendly creature was a short one but as he began to try to cycle away, the Quokka just kept following him.

Jones said:

"As I walked back to my bike, the quokka chased after me. I put down the GoPro and it jumped at me as if to say, 'Come back.'"

After that, Jones spent even more time with the cute creature snapping a series of shots. One shows the Quokka jumping at the camera, another sitting beside Jones, and another with the Quokka climbing on top of Jones as he lay on the ground.

After posting the images on facebook, they ended up being shared thousands of times by people across the globe. Jones was then even asked to appear on tv shows to tell of his experience.

Quokkas are about the size of a domestic cat and eat mostly leaves and grasses. An estimate quoted with these photographs put the Rottnest population at between 4,000 and 8,000; a 2007 estimate gave 8,000 to 12,000, with 600 to 1,000 on Bald Island near Albany, which is the island meant by “Albany island”. The species also survives at a number of mainland sites in south-west Western Australia, such as Two Peoples Bay. These figures need a survey date before being used as current distribution information.

The wider conservation story requires dated population and habitat evidence. Western Australia’s conservation department lists the quokka as Vulnerable, under both IUCN criteria and national law. Its range was once much wider: while numbers on Rottnest stayed high, mainland populations declined severely in the twentieth century, a retreat linked to habitat loss and introduced predators such as foxes. The island’s name comes from the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh, who called it “Rottenest”, or rat nest, after the animals he saw there. One approachable animal in a selected sequence cannot establish the status of a species or explain the history of its range.

While Quokka are extremely friendly towards humans, it is advised not to approach them as there have been some isolated cases of Quokkas biting people. It is also advised not to feed the Quokka as their digestive systems are not accustomed to most food given to them by humans and can result in them getting sick.

(The Instagram post originally embedded here is no longer available.)

h/t: Earth Wonders

The encounter belongs to a particular time and place

Quokkas' expressions can look wonderfully cheerful to people, but the nickname happiest animal is not a measurement of their emotions. For an enjoyable encounter, follow local wildlife rules and allow the animal to approach or leave without interference. The photograph is a memory of a moment, not a reason to feed, touch or pose a wild animal. That restraint keeps the encounter more interesting as well as more respectful.

How the photographs frame the encounter

A low camera position makes the quokka’s movement feel especially immediate. The lens receives the approach while the wider setting recedes, producing an image that can look like a direct greeting. Jones’s quotation explains how he interpreted the moment. The viewer can enjoy that account while keeping the animal’s exact intention open and the photograph distinct from instructions for approaching wildlife.