When 21-year-old Campbell Jones and his girlfriend were out for a bike ride in Rottnest, Australia, little did they know that they’d come across what could possibly be the friendliest quokka on the face of the earth.
“As I walked back to my bike, the quokka chased after me,” Jones told Channel Seven. “I put down the GoPro and it jumped at me as if to say, ‘Come back.'”
The image quickly went viral on social media, with one commenter on Instagram asking: “What have you done to [make that] quokka love you so much?!”.
Another said: “This is the greatest thing in the history of our planet.”
Quokkas have a reputation of sorts as one of Australia’s most friendly and most photogenic creatures.
In recent years, these adorable and inquisitive creatures have become quite the popular attraction for visitors to Rottnest Island, near Perth, where there are an estimated 8,000 to 12,000 quokkas.
Their friendly nature is believed to be because they only have few natural predators to worry about, although it’s important to take note that the species is currently listed as ‘vulnerable’.
Here’s to hoping that photos like Jones’ will help inspire quokka conservation efforts.