Quokkas are a small herbivorous marsupial of southwestern Australia that have a short tail. They are the size of a domestic cat and are considered to be the happiest animal in the world.
These adorable animals can only be found on Australia’s Rottnest Island and some other smaller islands around the coast of Western Australia.
In recent years, quokkas became an Instagram sensation because of the cute smiles they project in most photos. According to the IUCN red list, these small creatures have unique facial construction making them appear like they’re always smiling.
Clive Wynne, a behavioral scientist from the University of Western Australia, said that quokkas don’t “have any magical cognitive abilities but they’re not stupid.”
“They have the skills they need—honed by evolution over millions of years—to thrive in their natural environment.” The smile they show is a kind of “badass” smile, because they probably know that they are adored for doing so around human. But humans are not important in their survival in the wild so Wynne explained that their genuine smile may have developed in their natural evolution phase. “It is an accident in evolution,” Wynne said according to Mentalfloss.
