Avian flu devastates herd of elephant seals on sub-Antarctic island

 

Photo credit:  Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition

Headline:  New York Times, 11/13/2025

Emily Anthes reports:

A bird flu outbreak on a remote, sub-Antarctic island has decimated the world’s largest population of southern elephant seals, scientists have found. After the virus arrived on the island of South Georgia in 2023, the number of breeding females fell 47 percent, according to a new aerial survey of the three largest seal colonies on the island. 

“It painted a starker picture than I was expecting,” said Connor Bamford, a marine ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey who led the study, which was published in the journal Communications Biology on Thursday. 

If all of the South Georgia seal colonies suffered similar losses, it could mean that more than 50,000 females disappeared from the breeding population, the scientists reported.

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More turkey flocks infected with avian flu in North Dakota and South Dakota.  (11/5)

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October 2025

Avian flu hits duck breeder farm in California. (10/29)

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Avian flu hits Iowa turkey flock.  (10/7) 

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