Where Do Quokkas Live? Rottnest Island and Western Australia

The quokka’s range at a glance

The quokka has one of the smallest natural ranges of any Australian macropod. Its whole distribution fits within the South West region of Western Australia.

Numbers on the islands change from year to year, and mainland figures are rough estimates because the animals are hard to count in thick vegetation.

Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island is the quokka’s stronghold and the place almost every visitor goes to see one. The island covers about 19 km² (7 sq mi) and has no foxes, cats or dingoes. Snakes are the only natural predators there.

On Rottnest, quokkas use nearly every habitat: low coastal scrub, heath, the edges of salt lakes, woodland and even the settlement, with its cafes and cabins. During the hottest part of the day they shelter under dense or prickly shrubs, which are uncomfortable for larger animals to push through, and they become active in the late afternoon and at night.

The island’s name comes from the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh, who in 1696 mistook quokkas for large rats and called the island “Rottenest,” or rat’s nest. The Noongar name for the island is Wadjemup. Rottnest is a protected reserve, and quokkas there are protected wildlife.

Life on Rottnest is not always easy. There is little fresh water in summer, so quokkas rely on moisture from plants. At the end of each dry season food quality drops, and many animals lose weight or die before winter rains bring new growth.

Bald Island

Bald Island lies off the south coast of Western Australia, east of Albany. It is a rugged, uninhabited island covered in heath and scrub, and its quokkas have no predators at all.

Because the island is hard to reach and has no tourism, the Bald Island population is much less disturbed than the Rottnest one. It is an important safety net for the species, because a disaster on one island would not affect the other.

Quokkas on the mainland

On the mainland, quokkas are found in small, isolated pockets from the hills and bushland around Perth south to the forests near Northcliffe, Walpole and Denmark, and east to the Albany area, including Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve. Most mainland groups have fewer than 50 animals.

Mainland quokkas need very different habitat from their island cousins:

• Dense, low vegetation such as swampy thickets, riverside scrub and heavy forest understory, which hides them from predators.
• Plenty of rain, generally at least about 600 mm (24 in) a year, which keeps plants green and moist.
• Fire-managed landscapes with a mix of older and recently burned patches. Quokkas need older, thick cover for shelter but also use the fresh growth that follows fire.

New populations are still being found. In late 2024 a previously unknown group was photographed in the hills near Perth, and its location has been kept confidential to protect it.

Why don’t more quokkas live on the mainland?

When Europeans arrived, quokkas were common across about 41,200 km² (15,900 sq mi) of the southwest. By 1992 their mainland range had shrunk by more than half. Several factors explain the decline:

• Introduced predators. Red foxes and feral cats, together with dingoes and dogs, prey heavily on quokkas, especially young ones. Quokkas survive mainly where thick vegetation or fox baiting protects them.
• Habitat loss. Clearing for farms, plantations and housing, along with the draining of swamps, removed much of the dense, moist cover they need.
• Bushfires. Intense fires wipe out shelter and food. In 2015 a fire near Northcliffe killed an estimated 90% of a local population of about 500 quokkas.
• A drying climate. Rainfall has fallen and temperatures have risen in southwestern Australia since the 1970s, shrinking the wet habitat quokkas prefer.

These pressures are why the quokka is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List even though thousands live on Rottnest.

Can you see quokkas outside Western Australia?

Wild quokkas live nowhere else in the world. A few zoos and wildlife parks in Australia keep them, including Perth Zoo, and some zoos in Europe and Asia have small groups as well.

For most people, the classic quokka encounter is a day trip by ferry to Rottnest Island. There, quokkas can be watched from a short distance, but touching and feeding them is not allowed. To find out why their faces look so cheerful, read why quokkas seem to smile, and for more animals of the continent see our guide to Australian animals.