# Koala prints cannot be distinguished from human fingerprints is this true? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606 "2005-06-09T16:24:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wez\_nilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wez\_nilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wez_nilez)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/1 "2005-06-09T16:24:16Z")
Koala prints cannot be distinguished from human fingerprints is this true? ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/2 "2005-06-09T16:33:29Z")
Wouldn’t they be a bit smaller? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/3 "2005-06-09T16:40:59Z")
[They are very similar](http://www.alumni.ca/~fren4j0/animal_fingerprints.htm). A single or partial print would be difficult to distinguish, if there was no expectation that a koala had access to the crime scene. The general shape is a little unusual. A detective might just assume they were looking at a stub-fingered person’s print. ---
**Author:** ![citybadger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@citybadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/citybadger)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/4 "2005-06-09T16:43:22Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > [They are very similar](http://www.alumni.ca/~fren4j0/animal_fingerprints.htm). > > A single or partial print would be difficult to distinguish, if there was no expectation that a koala had access to the crime scene. The general shape is a little unusual. A detective might just assume they were looking at a stub-fingered person’s print. There is a plot for a bad detective show in here. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/5 "2005-06-09T16:44:42Z")
Wow that would make an awesome CSI! Koala murdering posse! 🙂 And the whole time they’re going after a gang of midget bikers who just came in town, who turn out to be a red herring, and then the bikers are killed by the koalas and the csi people have to face off against them in the season finale! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/6 "2005-06-09T16:44:46Z")
“Holmes! Do you mean to say that a _koala_ has committed this crime?” “You know my methods, Watson. When one has eliminated the impossible, whatever remains must be true.” – Murders in the Rue Adelaide ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/7 "2005-06-09T16:46:01Z")
I started posting before citybadger did. :o ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/8 "2005-06-09T16:49:53Z")
Koalas would never murder, though. Too strung out on their friggin opium. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/9 "2005-06-09T17:45:37Z")
That and they are soooooo cute and cuddly. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/10 "2005-06-09T18:13:11Z")
> [@Flander](#): > > That and they are soooooo cute and cuddly. Ah, but we all know that cute is more attractive, therfore more dangerous than ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/11 "2005-06-09T20:14:00Z")
“I live life on the edge, to the extreme. Danger is my middle name! Sky diving? Cliff jumping? Crocodile wrestling? All those things are lame! Me, I go Koala cuddling!” **gasps from the ladies** ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/12 "2005-06-09T20:19:08Z")
> [@citybadger](#): > > There is a plot for a bad detective show in here. It was the koala, with the rope, in the conservatory. Stranger Don’t be silly! Communism was just a red herring. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/13 "2005-06-09T20:56:50Z")
I feel obliged to remind **CalMeacham** that the story he’s referencing was not a Holmes story, but rather by Poe. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/14 "2005-06-09T21:01:19Z")
> [@](#): > > …I feel obliged to remind CalMeacham that the story he’s referencing was not a Holmes story, but rather by Poe… - - - Well you prolly shouldn’t be picking on him knowing he had a Poe substitute for a Holmes… ~ ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/15 "2005-06-09T21:31:24Z")
I can’t bear those type of bad puns. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/16 "2005-06-09T23:17:37Z")
> [@Flander](#): > > That and they are soooooo cute and cuddly. Cute, cuddly, stink and half the time they piss on you if you pick them up. But don’t tell anyone. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/17 "2005-06-09T23:38:41Z")
> [@](#): > > I feel obliged to remind CalMeacham that the story he’s referencing was not a Holmes story, but rather by Poe. **Chronos** , you should b aare of my methods by now, and that I never do anything ithout a good reason. By naming it that, I bring up the idea of a Rue Morgue-type crime committed by a Koala, which is, of courase, bizarre and outre and therefore humorous. Until you have to explain it. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/18 "2005-06-09T23:56:06Z")
> [@Flander](#): > > That and they are soooooo cute and cuddly. In the wild they look like balls of fur in the gum trees. Not particularly cute and cuddly - just somnolent blobs. The ones that I have seen in wildlife parks have always been very ill-tempered and nasty. ---
**Author:** ![citybadger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@citybadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/citybadger)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/19 "2005-06-10T00:15:07Z")
> [@andrewdt85](#): > > I started posting before citybadger did. :o Too bad. I demand a writer credit and 10%. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606/20 "2005-06-10T00:22:21Z")
> [@andrewdt85](#): > > Wow that would make an awesome CSI! Koala murdering posse! 🙂 And the whole time they’re going after a gang of midget bikers who just came in town, who turn out to be a red herring, and then the bikers are killed by the koalas and the csi people have to face off against them in the season finale! Murder in the Rue Morgue 2k5? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/koala-prints-cannot-be-distinguished-from-human-fingerprints-is-this-true/307606.md?page=2)