How to understand this teddy bear metaphor?

Question

In this video How Long Do Koalas Really Sleep In A Day?, it states that

Scientists have long believed that this [1] may be due to [koala's] position as nature's own teddy bear, but recent studies point to a more biologically sound explanation. The koala subsists strictly on eucalyptus... eucalyptus is highly toxic, low on calories, and very difficult to digest... koalas have developed specialized digestive bacteria that nullifies the venomous effects.

What I only knew is the teddy bear is a stuffed toy. I am not sure how this metaphor is used to explain the Koala's unsmartness.

[1] this refers to
Koalas are undeniably cute, but they might not be the smartest creatures on the planet.

They chow down on eucalyptus leaves, which are pretty poisonous to
most mammals and contain little nutrition.

They look like bears, but they're not bears. Their thumbs are pure body horror.

And they apparently smell about as good as a college roommate who believes that tea tree oil can replace actual showers...

And they sleep a lot. It turns out that the standard koala spends between 18 and 22 hours a day drifting off to dreamland, according to the Australian Koala Foundation.

chasly - supports Monica · Accepted Answer

"this" refers to the fact that they sleep a lot.
It is simple nonsense to say that scientists believe they sleep a lot because they are nature's teddy bears. I think this narration is intended to be humorous and we are expected to laugh at this. I don't find it funny and I'm not sure anyone would.
This is really not worth trying to analyse as it is a failed attempt to be "cute".

user405662 · Answer

For what it is worth, I think the metaphor, in all likelihood, has to do with the koala bear's "stuffedness". Normally you would expect a bear to wolf down huge amounts of food, but a koala bear on the contrary subsists strictly on eucalyptus, which is low in calories. Nature has bestowed it with the defensive mechanism against the toxins released by the plant.
One should then expect the bear to be rather not bulky (as bears usually are), and perhaps even emaciated, instead. But here the metaphor applies— koala bears are still big, bulky creatures— because they are, well, Nature's own teddy bears: The reasons, instead of being dietary, could be evolutionary or genetic.

How to understand this teddy bear metaphor?

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