A cardboard city has been erected by ecologists in nature sanctuary in Sydney, for animals left homeless by fires.
The world-first settlement is to create a habitat for animals at North Head Sanctuary after a fire destroyed much of the bush and scrub in the area.
Because of the fire, much of the shelter used by animals was destroyed, leaving them exposed to the elements and to predators.
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As a consequence, marsupial mice, bush rats and various reptiles have been easy pickings for predators.
"We're trialling these as temporary refuges for the ground-dwelling animals, so they have somewhere to hide," Australian Wildlife Conservancy Wildlife Ecologist Viyanna Leo said.
"The idea is that if it works, it's something that can be deployed in other areas when we have big fires."
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The cardboard city is the PhD project of ecologist Angela Raña.
"I'd been studying and monitoring the plants and animals here for two years, but after the fire we mostly found charred skeletons in the ash. It was heartbreaking," she said.
"With the thick undergrowth almost completely removed, any surviving animals could just be picked off by birds, foxes and cats."
The flatpack pods are sturdy six-sided pyramids with small holes for the animals to scamper in and out.
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The 200 flat-pack habitat pods are biodegradable and environmentally friendly, and are only intended to be short-term accommodation for the little critters.
Despite rainy weather in recent months, a worse-than-usual bushfire season has been forecast for much of New South Wales as well as other patches around the country.
If successful, cardboard cities like this one in North Head could be unfolded across the country.
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