Chris Hemsworth had a Lady and the Tramp moment with a quokka as he fed the cute creature a treat from his mouth.
The Australian actor befriended the animal on Rottnest Island, off the coast of Perth, as he paid a visit with his wife Elsa Pataky.
Hemsworth, who lives in Brisbane with his family, posted a video of himself with a twig in his mouth before a quokka took it from him. “Aren’t you going to share?” he jokingly asked before pretending to kiss the furry critter.
He captioned the post: “Spent 3 weeks crawling around the dirt, studying the Quokkas movements, mimicking their language and eventually gained their trust and was accepted as one of them, I now go by the name Quokkachris.”
He also posted a handful of selfies with the smiling animal as he allowed his wife Pataky in for a snap.
“Got my first quokka selfie this week at @rottnestislandwa,” he captioned the post. “Epic little creatures are all over the island just cruisin through the day doin their thing. Get there and check it out!”
Fans were predictably bowled over by the images as they jokingly branded Hemsworth the “quokka whisperer” while others warned him to be careful to not get scratched.
One commented: “Wishing to be a Quokka right now.”
Another posted: “Wuoaaaaaaa that's unbelievable and cuuuuute.”
A third wrote: “Chris, you’re hilarious! Cutest video ever!”
Hemsworth tagged his posts with the “quokka selfie” – a hashtag Instagram has added to a list of animals thought to be under threat from selfies.
Clicking on the hashtag brings up a warning which reads: “Protect Wildlife on Instagram. Animal abuse and the sale of endangered animals or their parts is not allowed on Instagram. You are searching for a hashtag that may be associated with posts that encourage harmful behaviour to animals or the environment.”
Quokkas are listed as vulnerable and visitors to Rottnest Island are slapped with fines if they are caught touching the animals.
