Kate Berry
Koalas clamber about in trees much like primates, despite being separated from them by tens of millions of years of evolution.
“They are the closest thing we have to primates in Australia,” says Christofer Clemente at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Sippy Downs, Australia.
Koalas are marsupials that carry their young in pouches. Although marsupials are mammals, their ancestors split from those of other mammals such as dogs and monkeys at some point during the era of dinosaurs.
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source: newscientist.com