Koala Fingerprints

The Koala is one of the few mammals that has fingerprints. In fact, koala fingerprints are remarkably similar to human fingerprints; even with an electron microscope, it can be quite difficult to distinguish between the two.
As shown by Henneberg & als from the Department of Anatomical Sciences, University of Adelaide, koalas have very human-like fingerprints. The main difference is that the entire human palm and fingers are covered with ridges while the koala only has ridges on its fingertips and some areas of the palm.
These similarities between Koalas and Humans is an example of coincidental evolution.
Sources:
Fingerprint homoplasy: koalas and humans – http://naturalscience.com/ns/articles/01-04/ns_hll.html
Posted: September 30th, 2008 under Uncategorized, biology, evolution.
Tags: evolution, fingerprints, koala, koala fingerprints, paw
