Life

Quokka Selfie Is The Cutest Australian Trend Ever

by Kat George

When you think of Australian wildlife, you generally think, "Oh great, in what skin-rotting, teeth gnashing, claw goring, instantaneous poisoning way is this creature going to kill me?" because wildlife down under is typically terrifying in ways not seen in less insane parts of the world. You don't usually think, "Awwwwww how cute!" That is all changing now, courtesy of "Quokka Selfies", a new social media photo trend in Australia. The quokka is the cutest little bush rodent you've ever seen, and not only can it not kill you (unless killing you with CUTENESS counts), it is evidently the friendliest animal there ever was, and will happily pose for photos. Which is lucky, because the quokka is endangered and as such, can't be handled by humans. But given its sunny disposition and love of making new friends, the quokka will gleefully volunteer to have its photo taken. Everyone wins! Cue this trend marking a spike in quokka preservation awareness in 3...2...

Luckily for me, an Australian, the next time I go home, I'm going to be roaming the wilderness looking for this joyful mini-beast, aiming to immortalize it on my Instagram feed. If you're not so lucky to be as Australian as I am (we can't all be this blessed), you can still get involved with the quokka, by helping in its fight against extinction: Purchasing one of these cute tees will help save the Arcadian forest Quokka, or you can donate to one of Australia's many animal conservation organizations, like Taronga.

And now, some the important stuff, the quokka selfies:

Images: evaskolaro, quokkaposts (4), kempsterk, teensy88/ Instagram