Quokka Fact: A quokka’s digestion is similar in some ways to ruminants like cows and sheep. For example, their stomach has many of the same bacteria found in a sheep’s stomach, and, like other ruminants, quokkas are foregut fermenters. However, whereas ruminants have a special stomach compartment called a rumen and often chew a cud to further digest food, quokkas do not.

But quokkas do sometimes engage in an interesting food-related behavior: merycism. Merycism is when an animal regurgitates and re-chews its food. Unlike rumination, merycism isn’t essential to for proper digestion. Merycism also doesn’t happen all the time – it’s an occasional behavior in quokkas and other macropods like kangaroos.