The World's Happiest Animal
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- čas přidán 3. 01. 2019
- On Rottnest Island, off the coast of Western Australia, a peculiar marsupial has captivated the hearts of Instagram users worldwide-and supported a booming tourism economy. The quokka, a close cousin of the kangaroo, rocketed to internet fame when tourists began taking selfies with the animal, which is unafraid of humans and appears to smile for pictures.
“They are like living teddy bears,” filmmaker David Freid, who made a short documentary about the mammals and the attendant social media sensation, told The Atlantic. “When you see one, it's a bonafide heart-melter.” Read more: www.theatlantic.com/video/ind...
"Happy Animals" was directed by David Freid (davidfreid.com). It is part of The Atlantic Selects, an online showcase of short documentaries from independent creators, curated by The Atlantic.
Subscribe to The Atlantic on CZcams: bit.ly/subAtlanticYT
There's a curse with these type of things exploding in popularity. Too many tourists will endanger them and their habitat.
@Davvy Jannes Rottnest is making bank with all the tourists. With a strong financial interest making tourism money, Quokkas are now being protected much more than before.
Much like how the Chinese love for the Panda is basically saving them, the world's love for the Quokka will do the same.
I also agree Bryant. They should not capitalize with a resort because that is going to reduce their habitat as well and we all know that people disregard rules. They will feed them, they will pet them, they will spread disease to them and harm them. Something about Nature itself is to just LEAVE IT ALONE.
Don't worry. They are well looked after. I've been there.
In this case you are wrong Im pretty sure. They are not upset by the humans presence. They dont seemed stressed by it and would probably mate right in front of you. If humans pass on diseases to it or feed it or start causing them to die than I would agree. It doesnt look like it would do what a safari would do to lions or giraffes or elephants.
Even DJT Jr couldn't get a Tag permit, so I think they're safe.
I hope this massive interaction doesn't change the animal sociology too much.
Brian Cullen
In five years they will become as lazy as cats.
pforce9 oh nooooo.
too late
I tried the same thing with the honey badger, it didn't catch on.
Ripped my eyes out, hard to take a selfie now
Lol
Badass Honeybadger does not give a duck :-)
I heard they don't give a shit, is that true?
Mr/Ms? Thumbs, From what you state there, I surmise you are now down to a more normal two thumbs after that episode?
For those interested in the reference - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_badger
czcams.com/video/K2H3hrKnxrY/video.html
A Honey Badger Barrels Through a Sharp Thorn Tree for Lunch
Smithsonian Channel
This worries me so much. Yosemite has a problem with obnoxious tourists not respecting wildlife and nature, and it's been detrimental to the environment. There's plenty more examples, that's just the one I'm personally connected to. I hope this doesn't end up hurting the animals.
Yep I'm a local and I don't want to see our Rotto destroyed and the quokkas unable to survive because there has been so much damage and they've become dependant on people. They're sweet little creatures... just leave them be and take a photo rather than trying to rub faces for a selfie.
@Base Bass Forte lol what? I don't make videos, you don't need to sub to me. And I definitely don't sell any kind of merch. Are you confused about who I am? I'm literally just a random citizen of the internet
And I hope since they're so friendly no one tries to take any with them back to where they came from and just leave them alone take pictures but leave them alone!
As adorable as the Quokka is, putting them out there like this, and making them so tangible can't end well. Some secrets are best kept safe.
Agreed!!!! Keep nature natural!
This is how species go extinct so you better have protection plans
Allow private ownership of some? Tragedy of Commons, y'all......
@NATHANIEL GILLIES lol listen to Hot Dad, Cars in Space
The Rottnest quokkas are inbreeding anyway because of such a large population on such a small island. Without human intervention they would probably already be wiped off the island. There are quokkas on the mainland too, just not so many in the populated areas so you don't see them as often. There are protection plans and a lot of research going on. Occasionally some mainland quokkas will be transferred to the island to boost the DNA pool for example.
Cute animal. Let's hope it will *prosper and live well* on their paradise island.
Why get so close? A regular picture is fine.
Because a regular picture isn't a selfie.
Videos like this just remind me how us humans viciously abuse this beautiful planet... we don't deserve the beauty and perfection that exists around us... we are monsters. (but these little guys are just precious and adorable beyond belief)
Right on bro!
This video was vicious? You're strange.
Now i love quokkas too.
Quokkas are the embodiment of happiness to observe from afar.......❤
This was made very well! SO GOOD!
The "dr. Doolittle" guy has some big talk about mindfulness and being on mobile phones when his life seems to revolve around getting close to wild animals for an instagram picture.
And: PROFIT.
@Davvy Jannes
No , the self-declared "dr dolittle" is *Allan* *Dixon.*
He's the one performing for profit with his "selfies" & instagram.
@Davvy Jannes
👍No harm, No foul.
Simply a case of misunderstanding, we've all been guilty of that on occasion.
Davvy Jannes no worries, my man. My only regret for you is the time you spent typing that up hahha
Yep
after watching this...
I AM WORRIED 😟
Oh for cryst sake, build a resort?! Leave Quokka's alone.
I feel ya though, these things are a diamond in the rough. To damn cute.
crying. I wish I could get this worried and emotional about vultures or something, but... it's not just the cuteness and the anthropomorphization, it's how trusting and fearless they are. that's what hurts.
I hate us. I wish we could close these guys off from us and leave them the heck alone.
the more humans = the less nature
@@privateuser5397 Humans are naturally destructive.
@@hoodedferret fck off
So we have to kill some humans so we can get more nature?
@@eliessw2538 hell yeah. I'm waiting for the one who destroys humans and save the planet
@@mr.V.5 ah yes... we are trying that
This is the best video you guys have made :-)
Last time i was on Rotto a Quokka jumped up onto the pub table and drank two full pints of beer before we could stop it. 😂😂😂
"The best images are the ones that I've caught with my own eyes" #truth
*Their eventually gonna regret that "all access". The key aspect of wildlife is just that... wild. It no longer becomes that when humans are added to the mix. Population numbers, habitat, eating habits, demeanor (that's not quite the word I'm looking for but hopefully you get my meaning), etc... All of these things & more are affected by human presence; & not in a good way. Australian officials really need to come together & discuss these things & adopt a firm set of guidelines before problems arise. Is tourism revenue generated from the Quokka really worth the potential fallout?* 🤷 *On a side note, wouldn't it be great if the same mass number of people who are flocking there to take a pic w/ a Quokka would also come together for any one of the thousands upon thousands of animals being abused on a daily basis?* 🤔
They’re
Guys don't worry too much about tourists impacting Quokkas on Rottnest Island, they have been living with people for over 150 years now, and have had no significant issues to report. The only problems that arise are from mishandling by people and sickness caused by diet from poor food given to them by tourists. Both of those issues are well managed by the locals self-policing and rangers/guides. The island is protected from any visiting pets (pets are in fact banned to a 2km exclusion zone radius and aren't even allowed on boats). As shown in the video there's many rangers and guides protecting them from tourists. There are many protections in place on their main population at Rottnest. The Quokkas that are of concern live on the mainland and are predated upon by foxes and cats and other introduced species - and are impacted exactly zero by tourists.
14:17 Ms. Barblett is awesome! She gets it, and genuinely cares for quokkas
Aawww....he’s ‘ Quokkadile Dundee’
amazing reporting.. engaging, funny, informative.. just superb even with today's standards!
There is also Bald Island which fortunately is less accessible to humans so the local quokka population is left in peace.
Imagine all the self conscious rats in the world wishing they were cuter so humans would love them more 😂
im sure the millions of rats in NYC dont mind being ignored one bit
Only a human would say that
Hahahahahahaha
@@nikocuz3352 not really. A loved animal is an animal that gets food. Animals love food
Loved the choice of lenses and angles used to film this.
I often click on videos that purport to be about a particular animal, only to be disappointed when the video turns out to be about the people surrounding the animal, who I don't care about, with very little footage of the animal itself and even less actual information about the animal. This video is especially disappointing in that regard, as it's specifically about the MEDIA's reaction to the quokka. Is there anything the public needs to know LESS about than the phenomena of the selfie? I don't think so. Do we need to know about the people who were harmed when trying to take ill-advised selfies? No, we already hear enough media coverage about that. Do we need to find out if a 70-something woman takes selfies? Are you kidding me? That age group has better things to do. Was he actually expecting her to say, "yes, I take selfies with quokkas?"
What the interviewer should have asked that woman about is her personal relationship with the quokka. Do they come inside the shop? Have you touched them? What do they feel like? How long have you lived/worked on this island? Has the quokka population changed over that time and if so, in what way?
The filmmakers could still have conducted all the interviews or gotten all the footage of people such as the minister of tourism speaking, but they could have played the audio over quokka footage for a portion of it. They could have asked the ranger what the creatures eat, do they have predators, how have their habits and habitat changed, and how has his job of protecting them changed, with the influx of tourism, etc. But what did they ask instead? They asked if the ranger took selfies. Once again, this man, aged fifty-something, said no--what else would he have said?--and made a nice point about experiencing life through one's eyes instead of a camera.
Don't get me wrong--they could have made mention of selfies, since it is clearly relevant, and even asked the ranger and the lady (quokka activist?) about them, and they could have still included bits about the quokka merchandise, celebrities visiting Rottnest, how the quokkas have become a fad, etc. The problem is that they make those things the focus of the piece, neglecting a rich and interesting topic in favor of a superficial, junky one. They could have made the point about how this became a cultural phenomenon without subjecting us to 20 minutes of boring media junk stories, while teasing us with a few minutes of quokka footage,
The net result, for me, is that I feel glad to have learned about the quokka, but simultaneously sad and cynical to see one more example of the media's obsession with itself and with pop culture. That part wasn't enriching or even interesting to me in the slightest, and leaves me a little worse off for having watched this doc.
This was beautiful.
I like the fact that The Dude is now working as an Ranger at quaokka country ...
very cool Atlantic, very cool
Spent a day on Rottnest.. Best day ever.. No selfies with a smiling Qokka but Lots of laying around with these Fur Balls sniffing like puppies..
5:48 laught so hard, the reaction to her boss's joke :-D.
Makes me want to visit Australia
The story is awesome, although I can't get over the quality of the recording, audio work, and editing. Peak quality content
God, I love being a Western Australian. Born and bred Perth Western Australian.
QUOKKAS ARE SO CUTE BYE OMG WE NEED POSITIVITY IN THIS COMMENT SECTION DAMN
No.
Humanity doesn't deserve the Quokka.
Not at all the type of documentary I was expecting - it’s better and multi-faceted.
Selfies are definitive sign for humanity's downfall. They perfectly portrait people's stupidity and ignorance.
Quokkamentary lol
Whoever made this video really seemed to love Mozart! Not complaining about it.
This is a dark comedy, this world we live in. This video typifies this, the government of an island is worried about a loss in tourism due to shark attacks, and an activity far more dangerous animal selfies fills the niche of beachgoers. Leading to the construction of a resort for the island's equivalent to a group of friendly ground squirrels, the island's leaders suggesting that a boomerang could ward off sharks like the ancestors of native people used them to fish. All this while the man whose ancestors actually used a boomerang to hunt watches and wonders whether we all deserve to be eaten by the shark. Like these marsupials we crowd around our most terrible enemy ourselves, following these celebrities into such mindless tasks. Perhaps one day if it has not already happened a lot of people are going to get hurt because of them.
RIP Quokka. Lost to the lust for money. I'll give it until 2030. behold the angles of death 5:45
Quokka: resting happy face
Cats: resting bitchface
Dogs: resting ptsd face
lol that selfie montage toward the end
The Mozart in the background is hysterical!
Oddly enough I think I saw an ad with the adverse effects of social media with these indigenous animals HUAWEI commercial / AD "It's in your hands" keep them safe guys!!! yes they're adorable but protect their habitat.
Holy Quokkamoly!
When you said, “For Mel,” I thought you meant Mel Blanc. I certainly could hear his voice coming out of one of these adorable faces.
Who needs quokkas when we have opossum?
The music in the background is The Queen of the Night Aria from The Magic Flute.
Mozart's done it again Jolly Good show
THank YOU...was driving me nuts I couldn't remember the title! For all you kiddies, there's also rave/ED version titled "Apashe" by Lacrimosa which also draws from The Magic Flute, good stuff.
14:22 what a ray of sunshine
Adorable animal
It's Really Amazing, I Love #quokka
can't we leave them alone the poor things. it' seems we destroy things we love ?
the digeridoo music at the beginning is awesome. Anyone know who it is or where I might be able to find a copy??
seconded
www.didgeridoobreath.com/Sanshi-s/197.htm
Yo daxon in this video, epic
The weirdest, and probably the most stupid animal is a human, no matter how hard i try i cant figure out why they act like they do
It is the only animal that worships money.
We're too much smart with just enough stupid to make it dangerous
When I visit Australia I will first go to Perth and Rottennest not just for the Quokka , also for the highly interesting persons who live there. After Perth then I will have to make a pilgrimage to Sydney then King's Canyon and Alice Springs because I'm a huge fan of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert.
everybody is exploiting the quokka. where are indigenous/aboriginal voices?
There weren't any living on Rottnest Isl;and. I guess that answers your question.
too busy being ignored on other issues - at least you can't camp on top of the mass graves any more, but we're a long way away from culturally appropriate practices. www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-25/rottnest-island-black-prison-to-white-playground/7962940
Quokkas are so instagramable and probably soon to irreplaceable if they’re being fed like that
Well tell them not to pet or feed, it's painful to see
It's like they're a mix of a kangaroo, rat and ground hog; a rattaroog? Nope, its a cute chubby chap called "Quokka."
Come to Florida, you can take a croc selfie
Harrison lol...
Better yet, come to Canada, you can take a polar bear selfie
except those crocs are alligators!
No you can do that here in western Australia too except our crocs will rip yer bloody head off hi from Perth western Australia
Wombat is quite happy as well, and Capybara is very friendly.
3:30 “200 meters off shore there is a blood thirsty killer”, Thank you to the Australian Gov. Representative for correcting that muppet that sharks aren’t ‘blood thirsty killers’/ way to go man!! 🤙
They are extremely friendly with no fear of humans at all. They’ll just hop up to you and have no problem with you patting them.
The shopkeeper seems like a lovely lady
The makers of this video have failed to reveal a detail that should be known. I lived on this island for ten years and the quokka's are sometimes a real danger. Once they taste human blood they have to be hunted and put down. Kind of like sharks, they will hunt humans after first blood is drawn.
I wish humans would leave these poor creatures to f*** alone.
Everywhere has this effect if you pay attention to birds. LOL @ 17:15 that Men At Work cover for sadness, wow.
Was referencing the history behind Rottnest Island ever in mind?
I live in Perth western Australia our year 7 camp was at rottnest island there was a horrible game schoolies used to play quokka soccer I leave the rest to how that's done
McDonalds owns Australia?
Who is is singing the version of Land Down Under? And what is the song at the end? (thanks in advance!)
Be very aware of what happened to the Tasmanian Tiger and then the Tasmanian Devil I hope you have a thought of a plan to have a second seperate colony if these cute critters get a fatal disease
That Chris Hemsworth tweet is going to increase tourism twofold on Rottnest Island in the next year.
Tenfold
By building a huge resort on the island, you’re directly limiting the carry capacity of the island for an endemic species. There is less habitat for the quokkas and so their population will fall. Why don’t you just build the resort on the mainland and have regular ferries too and from the island?
cute animal i want to hug it but cant
I love the credits
"When he posted the quokka selfie on Instagram, the photo got more than 540 000 likes, reaching more than half a billion people" Good. Job.
dude, this is cool
Resting happy face? Very appealing creature - I would say it has a happy 'resting face'
Quokkas: Hermosos.
Humanos: Insufribles.
I want to be a quokka.
So the guy of the selfies has a book about his adventures with quokkas. Turns out he's not only a real photographer, he's also a real author.
Who did the didgeridoo on this video? That's some really good didge.
when you take selfie using DSLR camera
Its name sounds like the name for most birds private parts. Or informal words. I like its ears in silhouette. So cute.
I would be curious to observe the little creature but to go there to take a selfie... not by a long shot. I like to experience things and it pisses me off that people are more worried about taking a proper selfie than enjoying what they are actually visiting and doing.
My last experience was visiting the Dublin's Guinness Museum and on the top floor, instead of enjoying the view, people where taking selfies and I could not even enjoy the view, while sipping a pint. I had a wall of selfie driven lunatics taking selfie after selfie after selfie.... and yes after selfie of themselves.
Now, everyone can be blamed for some narcissism now and then but nowadays it is a bloody world disease. Thankfully , at least some of the millennials seem to start to go against this trend and stereotype, not that selfie mania is exclusive to their age range.
Agreed on all points!
540,000 is not half a billion...*million. 540,000,000 maybe?
need more science
selfies are the scourge of this earth...
It's not mean if person is smile it's happy
Imagine being a neighbour of that didgeridoo maker - what a nightmare
Observe, don’t interfere. This will end with them getting way to friendly with people, and ultimately going extinct
Sigh... I hated selfies before, now even more. You can apply that to humans as well.
The thing that gets me most is how proudly some people are talking, ffs I'm angry now.
when I visited Rottnest a few years ago it was forbidden to feed them I hope this is still the same, BUT they are dangerous animals at night if you do not have a flashlight you will trip over them as happened to my friend and it hurts
people in these comments honestly have no idea what they are on about and probs have never been to rotto. i go there so many times a year and no one lives on the island, everyone who visits the island ride bikes, so cars are only for the workers. these quokkas are literally EVERYWHERE!!!! not saying they arent at danger but their main threat is idiots giving them stuff and hurting them. they mentioned a new resort but if you lived in WA you would know they are rebuilding one because the current one is disrespectful to the aboriginal people as it was previously a prison which held and killed many aboriginal people. There is honestly so much empty land to ride around....