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#QuokkaSelfie: Photos with cute, fuzzy Aussie animal are the hot new trend

Thanks to a hot new trend of people taking pictures of themselves with adorable Australian animals called quokkas, selfies with people seem boring by comparison.
/ Source: TODAY

Thanks to a hot new trend of people taking pictures of themselves with adorable Australian animals called quokkas, selfies with people seem boring by comparison.

The marsupial, also known as the short-tailed wallaby, is all the rage well beyond its habitat on Rottnest Island, a land mass of just 7-1/3 square miles, off Australia's western coast.

In addition to being fuzzy, friendly and the size of a small dog, its cuteness is enhanced by the appearance of a smile, which is why The Huffington Post named it the "happiest animal in the world" in 2013.

As Mashable noted Thursday, the expressive animal has gone viral in recent months, with island tourists snapping selfies with the creatures and tagging the photos on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #QuokkaSelfie.

Follow TODAY.com writer Chris Serico on Twitter.

This article was originally published Feb. 26, 2015 at 4:16 p.m. ET.