Karl Stefanovic cuddles babies, hides from 'randy' koala on TODAY

Don't let koalas roam free near Karl Stefanovic.

While recording TODAY live from Dubbo's Taronga Western Plains Zoo, the 42-year-old cowered behind his co-host Lisa Wilkinson while a wildlife handler held a koala closeby.

"Karl is really not too sure," Lisa observed before reassuring him, "You can come out!"

"Haven’t you seen those koalas? They're randy little buggers," Karl responded. "I don’t like it, I don’t like it. The koala can go home to its tree."

Perhaps Karl was nervous about the koala because of Lisa's own past experiences with the cuddly marsupial.

This week, while celebrating TODAY's 35th anniversary, the team looked back at some old clips of the show, including the time Lisa had a koala climb her face.

In the video, an animal handler helped a koala bear onto Lisa's shoulder, before wandering up higher.

"Ow!" Lisa could be heard squealing.

When the clip ended, the hosts laughed at the memory.

"Thirty-five years is a long time to be on TV," Lisa sighed, "and that’s the result!"

While today's episode of the breakfast program might have left Karl a little scared of wildlife, he found some comfort with a quick cuddle from a baby.

The TODAY Instagram account shared some sweet snaps of the journalist holding a little girl dressed in pink.

"Karl found a cuddly pink koala at the zoo... She's officially our Baby of the Day," the photos were captioned.

Karl is back at work this week after a mini-holiday with girlfriend Jasmine Yarbrough. The couple joined billionaire James Packer (and his rumoured fling, model Rose Ashton) on the casino mogul's super yacht.