TOO MUCH CUTENESS 

AUSTRALIA 

Little pygmy possum discovered on Kangaroo Island after fears bushfires had wiped them out

By Mahalia Carter

Posted Yesterday at 6:59pm

Little pygmy possums are the world's smallest possums and weigh about 7 grams.(Supplied: Ashlee Benc/Kangaroo Island Land For Wildlife)

A little pygmy possum has been found on Kangaroo Island for the first time since its habitat was mostly destroyed in bushfires that burnt almost half the island.

Key points:

• Little pygmy possums live in Tasmania and small patches of SA and Victoria
• There were fears the species had been wiped out from Kangaroo Island's bushfires
• One has been discovered living on the island this week

Fauna ecologist Pat Hodgens said the discovery on the west of the South Australian island, nearly one year on from the fires, was extremely exciting.

"There's only really been 113 formal records of the species [ever on Kangaroo Island]," he said.

"So 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."

Little pygmy possums are mainly found in Tasmania.(Supplied: Ashlee Benc/Kangaroo Island Land For Wildlife)

Mr Hodgens said the little pygmy possum was a difficult species to find and study, given their tiny size.

The little pygmy possum, or Cercartetus lepidus, weighs a mere 7 grams.

Described as the world's smallest possum, they can primarily be found in Tasmania, along with Kangaroo Island and sometimes on mainland South Australia and Victoria.

A bushfire destroyed much of Flinders Chase National Park.(AAP: David Mariuz)

Conservation group Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife found the tiny creature earlier this week as part of a larger recovery effort in the wake of the summer bushfires.

Two people died and almost 90 homes were destroyed in the fires, with a significant amount of wildlife also killed.

A western pygmy possum (left) and a little pygmy possum found on Kangaroo Island.(Supplied: Ashlee Benc/Kangaroo Island Land For Wildlife)

Mr Hodgens said the group was completing extensive forest surveys to figure out what species were now left "to try to do everything we can to protect them to ensure that they hang around during this pretty critical time".

"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," he said.

A little pygmy possum having its head measured.(Supplied: Ashlee Benc/Kangaroo Island Land For Wildlife)

More than 20 other wildlife species have been found, including a bibrons toadlet, a southern brown bandicoot and a tammar wallaby.

He said while it was great news, there were still concerns for other rare species that had not been spotted yet, such as the native swamp rat.

"We don't know a lot about that species because it is pretty rare around the island and also fairly susceptible to the wildfire events," he said.

"Even with all fauna survey efforts and camera trapping that we're doing, we're still yet to locate an individual swamp rat."