Avian flu decimates the world's largest population of elephant seals: Half of the females have disappeared

"The deadliest avian flu virus in history, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of birds in the last five years, has once again jumped to mammals and decimated the world's largest population of elephant seals, located on the remote island of South Georgia, a British-controlled territory about 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) from the Antarctic mainland. The British Antarctic Survey estimates that more than 50,000 females half the total have disappeared from one year to the next."

"The virus's journey reportedly began in 1996 on a goose farm in Sanshui, southern China, a humid region teeming with poultry farms: the ideal breeding ground for new pathogens. After several less intense waves, a new version of the virus, dubbed 2.3.4.4b, emerged in 2020 and began sweeping across the Americas from north to south, with unprecedented lethality. The highly pathogenic avian influenza killed or forced the culling of nearly 150 million birds in 84 countries in 2022 alone,"

The virus's journey began in 1996 on a goose farm in Sanshui, southern China, a humid region with many poultry farms. A new version, 2.3.4.4b, emerged in 2020 and swept the Americas with unprecedented lethality. The highly pathogenic avian influenza killed or forced culling of nearly 150 million birds in 84 countries in 2022 alone. The pathogen reached Bird Island near South Georgia in September 2023 and spilled over into mammals. Drone counts show the three main South Georgia southern elephant seal colonies fell from about 10,000 females to almost half, and island-wide extrapolation indicates roughly 53,000 fewer breeding females.

Read at english.elpais.com