A koala is a marsupial , which is a type of mammal that carries and nurses its underdeveloped young in a pouch.

More specifically:

  • Koalas are arboreal (tree-dwelling) herbivorous mammals native to Australia.
  • They belong to their own family, Phascolarctidae, and their closest living relatives are wombats.
  • The common nickname “koala bear” is incorrect, because koalas are not bears at all.

So if you’re answering “what type of animal is a koala?”, the clear answer is: it’s a tree-dwelling Australian marsupial, not a bear.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.