Cute quokka now jumping for joy Jumping 6 month old Quokka Jarrah. TIPPING the scales at 250g, half the size of a tub of butter, the future looked bleak for this adorable quokka. But after lots of loving care from Taronga zookeeper Kristal Thomson, the abandoned animal is thriving. "Jarrah," named after a Western Australian tree, was discovered alone and without care during a morning feed last month. The five-month-old had no hope of survival until Ms Thomson began hand-raising the adventurous little macropod. "I take him home with me every night," Ms Thomson said. He's very cute, very cheeky and very energetic. At home he tends to run around the house quite a bit. Now 500g and fighting fit, Jarrah has taken to solid foods and is well acquainted with the human touch. It was definitely a challenge for the first week while we were bottle feeding him, but he's taken to us quite well. It'll definitely be a tough process for me when I have to let him go back into the zoo. Baby quokkas are usually reared in their mothers' pouches until they are six months old, but marsupials often reject their young from their pouches when they feel stressed or under threat. In the wild, they rely on their mothers' constant care for about the first nine months of life.