Quokka: The Happiest Animal on Earth?

Be honest—you’ve probably watched
at least one cat video on the internet.
If you’re not careful, you may
be shocked (and a little embarrassed, three
hours later) when you realize what time it
is! We can get a lot of laughs from watching
the comical things cats do. How is it
that cat videos have become so popular?
Both smiles and laughter release endorphins
that make us feel good.

Funny felines might be the cat’s meow
nowadays, but in the 2010s a different viral
trend took the internet by storm: quokka
selfies. You might be wondering, “What in
the world is a quokka, and why would anyone
want to take a selfie with one?” This
housecat-size relative of the kangaroo is a
short-tailed scrub wallaby, but Australians
know it as the quokka. Quokkas are
adorable creatures that always look like
they are smiling. Why would you not want to take a selfie with one?

But what gives the quokka this permanently
plastered pleased appearance?
Quokkas are mammals, and as
such, have facial muscles that allow for
different expressions. Mammals are the
only animals capable of facial expression.
(Think about it: have you ever seen
a gecko grin or a frog frown?) When
they pant, quokkas appear to smile.
Due to their facial muscles, unique face
shape, and lack of fear around humans,
quokkas have often been called “the
happiest animal on earth.” But don’t be
fooled by their adorable smile. Even the
“happiest” animal reminds us that we
live in a fallen world tainted by sin and
the curse.

Kind of Adorable

The quokka belongs to the family
Macropodidae, or the kangaroo kind,
along with its relatives, kangaroos and
other wallabies. In Genesis 1, we learn
that God created living things to reproduce
after their own kind. The word
kind is how God has chosen to classify
living organisms in the Bible. In modern
taxonomy, kind most often lines up with
the family level of classification. Most of
the members within a kind are capable
of mating together and producing offspring,
so the kind is a reproductive unit.

When God created the original
animal kinds, he created a male and
female of each kind. He didn’t need to
create quokkas, red kangaroos, gray
kangaroos, wallabies, and the rest.
Instead, he built into the original kangaroo
kind enough genetic diversity to
give us the different species that we see
today—including the adorable quokka.

Survival of the Cutest

Like its kangaroo counterparts, the
quokka is a marsupial that gives birth
to extremely small young called joeys.
A joey is about the size of a bean. It is
blind and hairless and not fully developed
at birth. But God designed the
joey’s forelimbs and shoulders to be more developed than the rest of its body
so that right after birth it has the strength
to climb up to the mother’s pouch where
it grows and finishes developing. Without
this design, the quokka wouldn’t
exist. God endowed them with this
ability from the beginning of creation
so that they could be fruitful and multiply.
How many evolutionary dead ends
would have to occur before evolution
finally hit upon the correct development
and timing to allow for the survival of
the loveable quokka?

Not-So-Pretty Parenting

While the quokka may look cute and
cuddly, its smile belies a perfect life.
Living in an imperfect world, where
predators don’t care how cute their
prey is, a quokka will do whatever it
takes to survive. When a female quokka
carrying a joey is being pursued, she
may intentionally drop her baby in her
attempt to escape. As an easy meal, the
joey distracts the predator, allowing the
mom to get away. This sad and sobering
behavior isn’t what God intended in his
perfect creation. Before the fall, God
commanded that all living things eat
plants (Genesis 1:29–30). After Adam
and Eve sinned, everything changed.

A Remnant of Beauty

Despite nature’s dark side,
creation contains many things
that can make us smile.

Despite nature’s dark side, creation
still contains many things that can
make us smile, from crazy cats to cute
quokkas. Proverbs 17:22 (KJV) says, “A
merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”
So take a lesson from the quokka
and smile more—you’ll make other
people smile too.

Quokkas are still under the effects
of sin and the curse, as we all are. Yet
their smile and amazing design shows
us that, even in our fallen world, there
is still a remnant of beauty that points
to the goodness of our Creator, Jesus
Christ. And in his goodness, he is coming
back to restore everything to its perfect
condition as it was before the fall.
Now that is something to smile about!

Micah Bowman is an animal lover, ball python breeder,
and beekeeper. He received his BS in biology from Pensacola
Christian College and his MS in biology from University of
Nebraska Kearney.