World’s Smallest Possum Found Alive after Australia’s Fires

THE tiny pygmy possum had been feared extinct after fires raged through Australia, but the world’s smallest possum has found alive.

The pygmy possum has been discovered on an island by the Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife group. The island is just under 100 miles long and was devastated by the wildfires, with almost half on the island being destroyed.

The group were conducting a forest survey on the island when they found the single possum. With only 113 having ever lived on the island, the find was unexpected as they had feared the worst.

Pat Hodgens Ecologist, said, the possum 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.”

According to the Guardian, “scientists revealed in June the true scale of the impact the fires which started last year had on the country’s native wildlife. An estimated 143 million mammals, 180 million birds, 51 million frogs and a staggering 2.5 billion reptiles are thought to have been affected by the crisis”

Fires are still raging in Australia with Fraser Island currently being hit hard.

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