The discovery of tiny animal fuels hopes for its post-blaze survival but ‘right now they’re at their most vulnerable.’ For the first time since bushfires destroyed much of their habitat in the destructive blaze of last summer, a little pygmy possum has been discovered on Kangaroo Island.
There were fears the pygmy, considered one of the smallest possums in the world, had all but disappeared from the South Australian island.
But in the aftermath of the 2019-20 bushfire, the conservation organization Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife discovered the little pygmy as part of a broader conservationist campaign around the island. In December and January, nearly half of the 440,500-hectare island was incinerated.
Fauna ecologist Pat Hodgens said the finding on the west of the island was important for Guardian Australia. This capture is the first record of post-fire surviving species recorded,” he said.”
“The fire did burn through about 88 percent 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.
“In addition to Kangaroo Island, the little pygmy possum, weighing less than 10 grams, is found in Tasmania and occasionally mainland South Australia and Victoria.
Typically, given its size and restricted range, the creature is a difficult species to study. When it came to knowing the possum, Hodgens said there was a data deficiency.
He said he was hopeful the little pygmy possum would now live on Kangaroo Island but work was required to preserve what was left of the population. Feral cats have now become the greatest threat, with many pygmy possums in their stomachs.
“They are highly compromised as a species right now,” said the ecologist of the fauna. “They are still not out of the woods because they are at their most vulnerable right now because they are still very exposed to natural and introduced predators as the bushland regenerates.
“Twenty separate locations on the island were surveyed by Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife and found southern brown bandicoots, native bush rats, brush-tailed possums, tammar wallabies, and the more common western pygmy possums, as well as the only small pygmy possum.
Two people died and nearly 90 homes were destroyed last summer in forest fires that burned through almost half of the island, killing a large amount of wildlife.
Hodgens said It impacted all walks of life across the island and in our community.”
“For us, it’s still almost a year on, really early to even guess what the impact on many of these species has been.”
Hodgens said it may have been years or even decades before their populations were restored by the local fauna.
There are still a number of species where we don’t know how their populations did during the fires, and we don’t know how they’re going to fare in the long run.
“We owe it to these species to do all we can to protect them and ensure that for future generations they are around.”
Source: The Guardian