Koalas have fingerprints that look almost exactly like human fingerprints.

In 1996, researchers at the University of Adelaide discovered that koala fingerprints are nearly identical to human ones. This was surprising because humans and koalas are not closely related. Their last common ancestor lived about 70 million years ago. Most other marsupials like kangaroos do not have these ridges at all.These skin patterns are called dermatoglyphs. In humans, they form before birth. In koalas, these ridges help the animal feel the texture of the leaves they eat. The ridges create friction which makes it easier to climb smooth trees and hold onto food.The patterns follow the same loops and whorls found on human fingers. The ridges are about 0.2 millimeters wide in both species. Even when using a powerful microscope, experts find it difficult to tell the two apart. This is a result of convergent evolution.Convergent evolution happens when two different animals develop the same solution to a problem. Both humans and koalas needed a way to grasp things firmly with their hands. Their skin evolved the same physical trait independently to meet this need. This shows that nature can create the same complex tool more than once.