The internet is abuzz over a photo of a small Australian animal looking delighted as it leaps directly at the camera with arms outstretched as the photographer captures “the cutest quokka snap ever.”
The quokka, a small tree-climbing marsupial about the size of a domestic cat, was caught on camera by 21-year-old Campbell Jones, while visiting Rottnest Island, off the south-west coast of the of Australia.
According to Stuff.co.nz, citing a Channel 7 interview, Jones, who goes by cambojones2020 on instagram, said: “As I walked back to my bike, the quokka chased after me, I put down the GoPro [camera] and it jumped at me as if to say come ‘come back’.”
The cute creatures are native to a number of Australian islands and are also found in bushland around the west coast city of Perth.
However, they are relatively defenseless and their numbers on the Aussie mainland have been declining, due to wildfires and falling victim to predators such as foxes.
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“They just walk up to you. They are pretty friendly little things. We just went down to take photos of them and snagged a beauty, I suppose. It has been humbling that so many people wanted the photos,” said Jones.
The Twittersphere echoed Jones’ sentiments, with many online commentators struggling to contain their happiness over seeing the cute animal.