# How many of you realize that koalas are not bears? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764 "2021-05-10T15:02:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/1 "2021-05-10T15:02:40Z")
I always thought, despite them once being called “koala bears”, that the “bear” part had been dropped and that everyone knows they’re marsupials and in no way related to bears. However, I’ve been obsessed with them since I was a child, so I can’t really gauge what the general, non koala obsessed public knows or doesn’t know. What got me thinking about this - because I know you’re all kicking off the sheets wondering- is that I just saw a rerun of The Big Bang Theory where Sheldon mentions his love of “koala bears” (and his “koala bear face”). I’ve seen this ep countless times and it never fails to rankle. Not because I’m a koala fan girl (though I am!) but because no one as smart as Sheldon would call them that. In fact, I can picture him lecturing someone about it if they made that mistake. So, maybe it’s not as common knowledge as I once thought (?). A real life SC would never make that error but obviously actor Jim Parsons is only saying the words that have been written for him. You’d think a show that has actual consultants to help get the complicated science right would know that koalas are not bears. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/2 "2021-05-10T15:11:47Z")
It’s easy to remember: koala bear no, panda bear yes. (For years, scientists thought panda bears weren’t bears, but it turns out they aren’t pandas). ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/3 "2021-05-10T15:12:23Z")
I’ve only ever thought of them as koalas. Not as koala “bears”. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/4 "2021-05-10T15:14:24Z")
Pandas are more closely related to raccoons. If one of them gets in through the doggie door for kibble late at night, you’ll know it. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/5 "2021-05-10T15:18:29Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s easy to remember: koala bear no, panda bear yes. > > (For years, scientists thought panda bears weren’t bears, but it turns out they aren’t pandas). Wait, what . . .? I know (think?) Red Pandas are actually in the raccoon family but how are panda bears “not pandas”? Is a panda some other type of critter that the black and white bear is named for? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/6 "2021-05-10T15:32:00Z")
I didn’t know they weren’t bears. Actually, I may have run across that factoid before and just couldn’t retain it, because my eyes keep on telling me they _are_ bears. I got to hold one once. Oh he was the cutie-wootiest thing! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/7 "2021-05-10T15:36:02Z")
That’s the old and incorrect science, IIRC. Now scientists have learned through DNA that pandas are another type of bear, not part of a different family. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/8 "2021-05-10T15:39:48Z")
I’m pretty sure I’ve known for most my life that they weren’t bears. I mean, they don’t really even look like bears, do they? At least they don’t look like what I think of as bears. Sheldon calling them “koala bears” doesn’t bug me though. Something can be called a bear without taxonomically being a true bear. Like peanuts aren’t true nuts, but we still call them that. I guess I could maybe see an argument that it isn’t in Sheldon’s character, perhaps, to refer to them colloquially as “koala bears,” him being more the personality that would interject a statement like “you know they aren’t really bears” but, who knows. Maybe he just grew up with calling them koala bears. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/9 "2021-05-10T15:47:10Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I didn’t know they weren’t bears. Actually, I may have run across that factoid before and just couldn’t retain it, because my eyes keep on telling me they _are_ bears. > > I got to hold one once. Oh he was the cutie-wootiest thing! 😁 Lucky! I’m so envious! Holding one is at the top of my bucket list (sad, I know). **pulykamell** , bravo on a very Sheldon Cooperesque reply 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/10 "2021-05-10T15:52:34Z")
How about drop bears? Are they bears or racoons? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/11 "2021-05-10T15:54:33Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Something can be called a bear without taxonomically being a true bear. Exactly. There are two separate issues here. Calling them “koala bears” is not the same as believing they’re actually bears. Granted there may be people who think they’re bears, but using the term doesn’t prove anything. Nobody believes sea lions are lions, nobody believes prairie dogs are dogs. Kangaroo mice are not kangaroos, Tasmanian tigers are not tigers, and flying foxes are not foxes. My using those terms doesn’t prove my ignorance about taxonomy. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/12 "2021-05-10T16:05:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Like peanuts aren’t true nuts, but we still call them that. As I remember it, many of the things called nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, Brazil nuts…) aren’t, just like many of the things called berries (raspberries, strawberries, mulberries, blackberries…) aren’t either, botanically speaking. So it seems natural to me that marsupial bears are just koalas, not real bears. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/13 "2021-05-10T16:06:36Z")
My favorite fish is the sea. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/14 "2021-05-10T16:09:08Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Something can be called a bear without taxonomically being a true bear. Gummy bears. Wooly bears. Chicago Bears. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/15 "2021-05-10T16:11:47Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > > [@pulykamell](#): > > > > Something can be called a bear without taxonomically being a true bear. > > Exactly. There are two separate issues here. Calling them “koala bears” is not the same as believing they’re actually bears. Granted there may be people who think they’re bears, but using the term doesn’t prove anything. Nobody believes sea lions are lions, nobody believes prairie dogs are dogs. Kangaroo mice are not kangaroos, Tasmanian tigers are not tigers, and flying foxes are not foxes. My using those terms doesn’t prove my ignorance about taxonomy. But, but. . . aren’t those you listed the actual names? I mean, obviously not their _scientific name_, but, for instance, aren’t sea lions always called “sea lions”? Prairie dogs don’t have any other name (that I know of), peoples’ knowledge that they’re not of the dog family notwithstanding.Koala _bear_ was never their “official” name, was it? I know I certainly first thought that was their actual name, 40+ years ago. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/16 "2021-05-10T16:17:03Z")
I’m still struggling with the concept that dust bunnies aren’t really bunnies. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/17 "2021-05-10T16:19:15Z")
> [@naita](#): > > My favorite fish is the sea. The best fish is a sausage, and the best sausage is a sock full of money. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/18 "2021-05-10T16:28:18Z")
> [@naita](#): > > My favorite fish is the sea. > [@hogarth](#): > > The best fish is a sausage, and the best sausage is a sock full of money. My favorite cephalopod is the cuttle. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/19 "2021-05-10T16:48:59Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > I mean, obviously not their _scientific name_ , but, for instance, aren’t sea lions always called “sea lions”? No. Not when they are called an [eared seal or an otary.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eared_seal) Not that it matters, they’re just names that weren’t selected to be unambiguous for scientific purposes. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764/20 "2021-05-10T17:21:27Z")
What about something like a “killer whale,” which is not technically a whale, but a dolphin, and is also more and more commonly referred to as an “orca.”? Then there’s American buffalo, which we all know are actually bison, and we use both terms. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-realize-that-koalas-are-not-bears/941764.md?page=2)