The hair is short and fairly coarse, and the general coloration is brownish gray, sometimes tinged with rufous. There are no definite markings on the face. The ears are short and rounded.
Females have four mammae and a well-developed pouch.
An individual returns to the same shelter every day through most of the year but may change sites in May or June. At night the quokka emerges from its shelter to feed. It makes runways and tunnels through dense grass and undergrowth. The quokka is herbivorous, feeding on a variety of plants. Ruminantlike digestion in the Macropodidae was first demonstrated in Setonix.