Koalas Aren't Bears (And Never Were)

Call them koala bears and any Australian will politely—or not so politely—correct you. Despite their round ears, button noses, and cuddly appearance that screams "teddy bear," koalas are marsupials, placing them in the same family tree as kangaroos, wombats, and opossums.

So how did this misnomer stick around for over two centuries?

Blame the Homesick Settlers

When European colonizers first encountered koalas in the late 1700s, they reached for familiar comparisons. The animals looked like small bears. They climbed trees like bears. They had no visible tail, just like bears. The name "koala bear" seemed logical enough.

What they couldn't see was what made koalas fundamentally different: a pouch.

The Pouch Changes Everything

Female koalas carry their young in a backward-facing pouch for about six months. Baby koalas, called joeys, are born incredibly underdeveloped—blind, hairless, and smaller than a jellybean. They crawl into the pouch and continue developing while nursing.

Bears, by contrast, are placental mammals. Their young develop fully inside the womb and are born relatively mature. No pouch required.

This single distinction—pouched versus placental—represents millions of years of evolutionary divergence.

Their Real Family Tree

Koalas belong to the order Diprotodontia, which includes:

• Wombats — their closest living relatives
• Kangaroos and wallabies
• Possums (the Australian kind, not American opossums)

The koala's nearest cousin, the wombat, shares an interesting trait: both have backward-facing pouches. For wombats, this keeps dirt out while burrowing. For koalas, it prevents joeys from falling out while mom climbs trees—though scientists still debate whether this is adaptation or evolutionary holdover.

What Makes Koalas Weird (Even for Marsupials)

Beyond not being bears, koalas are strange creatures in their own right. They sleep up to 22 hours per day, a necessity because eucalyptus leaves provide so little energy. Their brains are unusually smooth and small for their body size—one of the smallest brain-to-body ratios of any mammal.

They also have fingerprints nearly identical to humans, so similar that they've occasionally confused crime scene investigators in Australia.

And that cuddly appearance? Deceptive. Koalas have razor-sharp claws and a surprisingly aggressive streak when threatened. Wildlife rescuers know to handle them with thick gloves.

The Name We Should Use

The word "koala" likely comes from the Dharug word gula or gulawany, meaning "no water" or "no drink." Early observers noticed that koalas rarely descended from trees to drink, getting most of their moisture from eucalyptus leaves.

Just "koala" works perfectly. No "bear" needed—and considerably more accurate.