The mention of a koala bear often conjures up an image of an adorable spoon-nosed creature cocking its head to one side while clinging to a tree. Now, scientists have figured out why the iconic ...

Ever wonder exactly why koalas hug trees? Well, aside from it being incredibly adorable, a team of researchers from the University of Melbourne says it serves an important purpose. According to HLN ...

Looking for a way to beat the heat this summer? Then make like a koala, and hug a tree. According to a recent study in Biology Letters, the notoriously lethargic marsupials aren’t so lazy when it ...

Trees provide koalas with more than food and shelter – they also serve as air conditioners, scientists say. On a hot day in Australia, a koala’s thick fur is not necessarily an asset. The marsupials ...

Hannah Weinberger was an editorial assistant at Outside. Despite earning a degree in Mandarin Chinese from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hannah pursued an interest in environmental ...

There's nothing quite as cute as a koala hugging a tree. While serving as a sight for sore eyes for ecotourists, this behavior also serves an important role for koalas: thermoregulation. Hot days in ...

Koalas clinging onto trunks may look like one of nature’s cutest things online, but their tree-hugging is actually deeply ...

A 2014 study has found that koala bears hug trees to keep cool. On hotter days, the trunks can be several degrees cooler than the ambient air temperature, and the koalas drape their whole bodies on ...

Koalas spend a lot of their time asleep, clinging to tree branches. But far from being lazy, it seems tree-hugging is an efficient way to keep cool. The trick should ensure that koalas lose half as ...

Turns out koalas aren’t just hugging trees so we can all marvel at how adorable they are — they’re actually hugging trees to keep themselves nice and cool in hot weather. Researchers tracked a group ...

The mention of a koala bear often conjures up an image of an adorable spoon-nosed creature cocking its head to one side while clinging to a tree. Now, scientists have figured out why the iconic ...

Trees provide koalas with more than food and shelter — they also serve as air conditioners, scientists say. On a hot day in Australia, a koala’s thick fur is not necessarily an asset. The marsupials ...