It should come as no surprise that gorillas, chimpanzees, and other higher primates closely related to humans have fingerprints. But if you look closely at a koala’s paws, you’ll see tiny swirling ridges on the skin of its fingers and toes. They’re fingerprints, and every koala has unique set. That means animal detectives would have no problem tracking down koala crooks!
The remarkable thing about koala prints is that they seem to have evolved independently. On the evolutionary tree of life, primates and modern koalas’ marsupial ancestors branched apart 70 million years ago. Scientists think the koala’s fingertip features developed much more recently in its evolutionary history, because most of its close relatives (such as wombats and kangaroos) lack them.
Picture Credit : Google