Koala drinks from man's water bottle amid Adelaide Hills devastation

Amid the ongoing bushfire catastrophe in the Adelaide Hills, a familiar symbol of hope and compassion has emerged.

A parched koala, unable to extract enough moisture from the scorched eucalypt leaves it usually feeds on, accepted a drink from a water bottle offered to him by a man named Colin Cook, who uploaded a video of the incident to YouTube.

"I came across this little chap in a distressed state so I offered a helping hand from my water bottle and he drank without eagerly without hesitation," he wrote.

The video recalls the famous images of a firefighter sharing his water with a koala named Sam that emerged in the aftermath of the deadly 2009 Victorian bushfires.