World’s smallest possum found alive on Australian island after surviving devastating wildfires

The world’s smallest possum species been found alive on Australia’s Kangaroo Island after devastating wildfires which were feared to have wiped out the animals last summer.

The discovery is the first time a little pygmy possum, known scientifically Cercartetus lepidus, has been seen since bushfires destroyed almost half the 99-mile-long long island off the coast of Adeleide.

Conservation group Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife found a lone possum last week as they carried out a forest survey to establish the scale of destruction following January’s blazes.

Two people were killed in the fires, which also extensively damaged all of the island’s wildlife conservation sites. 

There have only ever been 113 formal records of the little pgymy possum on the island, a fauna ecologist working on the conservation effort told ABC Australia. It is primarily found in Tasmania, as well as occasionally on mainland South Australia and Victoria.

The animal is "certainly not very common and, obviously, the summer bushfires burnt through much of that habitat that species had, but we were certainly hopeful that we would find them," ecologist Pat Hodgens added.

He said the possum was particularly hard to track due to its minuscule size, typically weighing just 7g.

The conservation group found the animal while undertaking a survey to learn which species were left on the island and assess how to help them survive.

"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 discovered alive, including a bibrons toadlet, a southern brown bandicoot and a tammar wallaby. But other native species, such as the swamp rat, are yet to be found.

January’s fires were sparked after lightning struck a park. Scientists conducting an assessment of the Australia’s summer bushfires found the climate crisis has raised the risk of further blazes by at least 30 per cent.   

Throughout Australia, nearly three billion animals were killed or displaced during the 2019-20 bushfire season.