Scientists track down rare mammal thought wiped out by Australian bushfires

It's one of Australia's rarest mammals, pushed to the brink of extinction by the bushfire crisis of 2019.

The silver-headed antechinus is found in only three areas in Queensland.

But with a third of its habit destroyed by the fires, scientists feared the worst when they set out on a needle-in-a-haystack search using detection dogs to sniff out signs of life.

All up, 21 of the mammals were found alive and still breeding in burnt forest south of Gladstone.

The survival of this species is doomed from the moment they're born.

Males don't live past 12 months, dying soon after their first and only marathon two-week mating season. Stress is their ultimate cause of death.

"This guy's got about a month to live... hopefully he mates with as many females as possible between now and then," Queensland University of Technology's Dr Andrew Baker told 9News.

The successful search and rescue mission, which was made possible through WWF's wildlife recovery program, was set up in the wake of the nation-wide bushfires.