Bushfires have destroyed houses and melted glass bottles flat against the ground, but miraculously some animals have survived.

While a Greenpeace New Zealand social media post from late last week suggesting wombats had shepherded other animals into their burrows has since been revoked, the idea that wombats saved other animals may not be entirely untrue.

Documentarian Peter Hylands ventured deep into Cobargo Wildlife Sanctuary to record the devastation and help the survivors.

The forests have been stripped of leaves and the ground is a bed of ash.

“You can see birds which were in flight and they’ve died and fallen to the ground trying to escape the fire,” Mr Hylands told Yahoo News Australia.

“And that’s a terrible, terrible thing and yet... you’ve got animals that are completely unscathed and those must be the animals that have been under the ground, it’s the only explanation when the fire zones are so extensive.”

View photos Not all wombats were lucky enough to survive the bushfires. Source: Creative cowboy films More

View photos Gary Henderson, from Cobargo Wildlife Sanctuary, treats an orphaned wombat joey. Source: Creative cowboy films More

Amid the devastation, one thing stood out.

With the undergrowth stripped bare, the complex network of wombat burrows could be seen in their entirety.

“There are quite a few wombats in that region, and there’s quite an extensive network of burrows,” Mr Hylands said.

“What was particularly amazing is it’s clearly not only wombats who are using those burrows in the firestorm.”

Wombat burrows: ‘Ecosystems in their own right’

Brigitte Stevens, from Wombat Awarenesses Organisation, told Yahoo News Australia wombats were well known for sharing their homes with other species.

View photos Peter Hylands found birds that died in fields mid-flight during the fires. Source: Creative cowboy films More

View photos Wildlife experts report that echidnas have survived the bushfires by hiding in wombat burrows. Source: Creative cowboy films More

She specialises in the southern hairy-nosed wombat and has documented a burrow complex with 89 entrances.

The system was spread across a 900-acre block, providing shelter to a variety of species.

“Because they live in dry and arid regions, many of the other animals rely on their burrows for survival,” she said.

“They’re incredibly important species and their burrow systems are ecosystems in their own right.

“Inside they are full of insects, reptiles, there are birds that live in their burrows, echidnas and we also see sheep and kangaroos take shelter within the entrance.

‘Physically we can’t do any more’

Donna Stepan, from Sleepy Burrows Wombat Sanctuary, has been venturing through the fire zone around Tallaganda, 50km southeast of Canberra.

While the wombat survival rate is higher than other animals, there have been many deaths.

Joeys have been left orphaned in their burrows.

View photos Donna Stepan has been seeking out wombats in the fire zone to feed and water them. Source: Sleepy Burrows Wombat Sanctuary More