Earlier, an ecologist from the University of Sydney said nearly 500 million animals have been killed in the raging bushfires of Australia, which have been spreading since September of 2019.

University of Sydney professor Chris Dickman announced the shocking and eye-opening numbers last week, and a week after the claims, he is now providing a new update.

Now, Professor Dickman says the numbers have soared over 800 million in New South Wales alone.

Talking on the national numbers, the professor said the numbers are over 1 billion.

During an interview with CBS, Professor Dickman said, “I think there’s nothing quite to compare with the devastation that’s going on over such a large area so quickly.”

He added, “It’s a monstrous event in terms of geography and the number of individual animals affected.”

The 1 billion numbers include birds, reptiles, and mammals, except bats.

The projected numbers do not include frogs, insects, and other invertebrates.

Professor Dickman continued, “We know that Australian biodiversity has been going down over the last several decades, and it’s probably fairly well known that Australia’s got the world’s highest rate of extinction for mammals.”

He went on, “It’s events like this that may well hasten the extinction process for a range of other species. So, it’s a very sad time.”

Bushfires in Australia have burned across the country and has destroyed nearly 20 million acres of land.

Authorities said the fires in the country could possibly burn for months to come.

At least 25 people have been killed by the fires, and thousands of people are being asked to evacuate their houses.

Talking about the probable cause, Professor Dickman said Australia usually sees the effects of Climate Change.

The professor said Australia experiences the effects of climate change before any other country in the world does.

Professor Dickman says the fires in Australia can be a preview of what’s to come globally.

The initial estimate was around 480 million animals killed in the massive fires.

The WWF Australia backed the estimates of Professor Dickman.

WWF estimates around 1.25 billion animals have been killed directly or indirectly from the massive bushfires in Australia.

A statement was released by WWF Australia, they said, “This heart-breaking loss includes thousands of precious koalas on the mid-north coast of NSW, along with other iconic species such as kangaroos, wallabies, gliders, potoroos, cockatoos, and honeyeaters.”

Experts believe it will take Australia to recover from the fires in decades to come.

Several species of animals are now on the way to become extinct in Australia.