An adorable pygmy possum has been found on Australia's Kangaroo Island, much to the relief of ecologists who feared they'd been wiped out in last summer's bushfires.
The tiny big-eyed creatures are the smallest possum species in the world, and can only be found in south Australia including Tasmania and some parts of the mainland.
Their habitat was mostly destroyed in the devastating bushfires that took hold of the country last December and January, during which almost half of Kangaroo Island was burned.
Since then experts had worried that pygmy possums may have disappeared from the 440,500-hectare island for good.
But now conservation group Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife has found one of the tiny possums for the first time since the fire, raising hope of their survival.
"This capture is the first documented record of the species surviving post-fire," ecologist Pat Hodgens told the Guardian.
"The fire did burn through about 88% of that species' predicted range, so we really weren't sure what the impact of the fires would be, but it's pretty obvious the population would have been pretty severely impacted."
There have been just 113 formal recordings of pygmy possums ever found on Kangaroo Island, so the discovery is significant.
The animals are difficult to find and study due to their size — fully-grown adults weigh just seven grams.
Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife has been conducting extensive surveys of the remaining forest in an attempt to figure out which species survived the blaze.
"It's very important now because it is kind of like the last refuge for a lot of these species that really rely on very old long, unburned vegetation," Mr Hodgens said.
More than 20 other wildlife species have been located, including a bibrons toadlet, a southern brown bandicoot and a tammar wallaby.
However other rare species such as the native swamp rat have yet to be spotted.
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The tiny big-eyed creatures are the smallest possum species in the world, and can only be found in south Australia including Tasmania and some parts of the mainland.
Their habitat was mostly destroyed in the devastating bushfires that took hold of the country last December and January, during which almost half of Kangaroo Island was burned.
Since then experts had worried that pygmy possums may have disappeared from the 440,500-hectare island for good.
But now conservation group Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife has found one of the tiny possums for the first time since the fire, raising hope of their survival.
"This capture is the first documented record of the species surviving post-fire," ecologist Pat Hodgens told the Guardian.
"The fire did burn through about 88% of that species' predicted range, so we really weren't sure what the impact of the fires would be, but it's pretty obvious the population would have been pretty severely impacted."
There have been just 113 formal recordings of pygmy possums ever found on Kangaroo Island, so the discovery is significant.
The animals are difficult to find and study due to their size — fully-grown adults weigh just seven grams.
Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife has been conducting extensive surveys of the remaining forest in an attempt to figure out which species survived the blaze.
"It's very important now because it is kind of like the last refuge for a lot of these species that really rely on very old long, unburned vegetation," Mr Hodgens said.
More than 20 other wildlife species have been located, including a bibrons toadlet, a southern brown bandicoot and a tammar wallaby.
However other rare species such as the native swamp rat have yet to be spotted.
Music: Koto San - Ofshane
Source: Daily Star, Reuters, Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patryn.worldlatestnews
Source: Daily Star, Reuters, Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patryn.worldlatestnews
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