3 billion animals hit by Australia wildfires: WWF

The number of animals believed to have been killed or displaced in the Australian wildfires that ended earlier this year has now tripled to nearly three billion.

That's according to a study released on Tuesday (July 28) by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Harrowing images of koalas, kangaroos, and other native Australian animals in distress underlined the severity of the disaster at the time.

Some 143 million mammals, over 2 billion reptiles, and 180 million birds were impacted by the country's worst bushfires in decades.

The fires destroyed more than 11 million hectares - that's 37 million acres - across the southeast of Australia.

That's an area about half the size of the United Kingdom.

The near-three billion total includes animals which were displaced because of destroyed habitats and now face a lack of food and shelter, or a habitat that was already occupied.

The WWF said the main reason for raising the number of animal casualties was that researchers had now assessed the total affected area, instead of focusing on the most affected areas.

The bushfires resulted in 34 human deaths and 3,000 homes lost.