THEY REACH FOR LEAVES LIKE

Ground-dwelling quokkas sometimes climb five feet up a tree trunk to reach a tasty-looking leaf or berry. That might not sound impressive, but it’s something its closest relatives— MIXED-UP and —can’t do. Tree- loving koalas have strong, large paws made for gripping branches all day. But the quokka can ? hold on only for a few minutes. Just enough time to swipe a snack!

FIND OUT WHY QUOKKAS ACT LIKE GIRAFFES, KOALAS, AND BATS. THEY HOP LIKE RABBITS BY ALLYSON SHAW SAY When explorers in the late 1600s first If you spot a brown fuzz ball bouncing “LEAVES!” spotted this fuzzy, friendly-looking through the brush, it’s not a rabbit—it’s a in Australia, they figured they’d leaping quokka! Although they usually crawl Quokkas have smiley faces and stumbled on a house--size rat. Not on all fours, quokkas also use their strong are sometimes friendly around even close. Quokkas might be related back legs to jump. These also create people, so tourists to to kangaroos and wallabies, but they’re passageways in the bushes and grass as they Australia’s Rottnest Island way weirder. This has traits move through the brush, similar to the often get too close. The extra more often associated with other underground tunnels bunnies create. Furry, attention could put quokkas in animals—and that makes it one cute, and hoppy? Yes, please! danger—or it might help the wacky critter. species survive. Authorities on Rottnest Island protect the critters with THEY CATCH Z’S LIKE BATS rules against touching or feed- ing the quokkas. Human food OK, quokkas don’t sleep while can make them sick, plus giving hanging from a cave or tree, but them snacks (and even water) they do sometimes nap with their heads can make the quokkas too upside down. Quokkas often sleep in a sitting dependent on people. But by position with their head resting on their feet. following the rules, island tour- “It’s very cute,” says Cassyanna Gray, a conser- ists help give authorities more vation officer on Australia’s Rottnest Island, power to support the quokka’s one place quokkas live. Also, like most bats, . For instance, conser- quokkas are mostly nocturnal, snoozing vationists can use the money when the hot sun is out. generated from tourism to protect the island and monitor the quokka population. So if you want to protect the THEY CHEW LIKE GIRAFFES quokkas and get an epic pic-

A ture, just use a selfie stick! SI P A O A C C Quokkas eat their food in a way that is simi- I E F A I

C I

O N

N lar to giraffes. Both animals use their large,

C D AUSTRALIA ROTTNEST ISLAND E Rottnest I flat molars to grind tough treats like leaves A A

N N to release moisture and nutrients. The dif- Island, one of the I A

N places quokkas live, got N A ference? Giraffes later regurgitate the food TA RCTIC

D (meaning they basically throw it back up its name after explorers I

A into their mouths—yuck!) and chew it some thought quokkas were N more. When a quokka swallows food, the rats. (Get it? Rat nest?

O meal enters its first stomach (yep, quokkas Rottnest?) C AUSTRALIA E have two tummies!), where the food is A N broken down more before entering the second stomach. Where TEST YOUR MARSUPIAL SMARTS WITH THIS FUN QUIZ! quokkas natgeokids.com/december live

JAMES GOURLEY / SHUTTERSTOCK (BIG IMAGE); PURESTOCK / GETTY IMAGES (); PETER MURPHY (CLIMBING); KEVIN SCHAFER / GETTY IMAGES (JUMPING); NAT GEO KIDS • DECEMBER 2018 | JANUARY 2019 TOM REICHNER / SHUTTERSTOCK (RABBIT); LIMDQ / SHUTTERSTOCK (SLEEPING); MADMONKEY0328 / SHUTTERSTOCK (BAT); AL-TRAVELPICTURE / ISTOCK / NAT GEO KIDS GETTY IMAGES (EATING); ALEX SNYDER (GIRAFFE); MIN-SOO AHN / EYEEM / GETTY IMAGES (QUOKKA ON STREET); MARTIN WALZ (MAP)