Koala fingerprints are almost indistinguishable from those of humans.

Every fingerprint is unique, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to tell apart — especially since humans aren’t the only species that’s developed them. Chimpanzees and gorillas have fingerprints too, but it’s actually koalas — far more distant on the evolutionary tree from humans — whose prints are most similar to our own. This was first discovered by researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia in 1996, one of whom went so far as to joke that “although it’s extremely unlikely that koala prints would be found at the scene of a crime, police should at least be aware of the possibility.” 

Koalas are bears.

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Koalas are actually marsupials, which makes them more closely related to opossums and kangaroos than to grizzlies or pandas. A defining trait of marsupials is that they carry their young in a pouch called a marsupium — which is where they get their name.

That discovery lent support to one of the primary theories in the centuries-long debate over the purpose of fingerprints and their swirly microscopic grooves: They help grasp. Koalas’ survival depends on their ability to climb small branches of eucalyptus trees and grab their leaves to eat, so the fact that they developed fingerprints — which assist in that action — independently of primates millions of years ago is likely no coincidence.

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