{"id":138501,"date":"2025-11-14T00:15:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T00:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/138501\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T00:15:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T00:15:12","slug":"bleak-future-for-seals-decimated-by-bird-flu-scientists-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/138501\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bleak\u2019 future for seals decimated by bird flu, scientists warn"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS – The world\u2019s largest species of seal has been devastated by bird flu, which has wiped out half of all breeding females at a key wildlife haven near Antarctica, scientists warned on Nov 13.<\/p>\n

The remote island of South Georgia is home to a majority of all southern elephant seals. <\/p>\n

Males of these blubbery giants can grow up to 2m in length, weigh nearly four tonnes, and have a distinctive elephant-trunk-like proboscis on their face that earned the mammals their name.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bird flu arrived on South Georgia in 2023<\/p>\n

<\/a> during an outbreak that has seen the virus spread across the world like never before, killing millions of birds and infecting many mammals, including several humans.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, scientists warned that bird flu had sparked the worst die-off on record for southern elephant seals when it spread among a population on Argentina\u2019s coast in 2023.<\/p>\n

In a study published in the journal Communications Biology on Nov 13, a UK team of researchers gave the first estimate for how hard South Georgia\u2019s seals have been hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt paints a pretty stark and harrowing picture,\u201d Dr Connor Bamford, a marine ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey and lead author of the study, told AFP.<\/p>\n

According to the last count in 1995, South Georgia is home to 54 per cent of all southern elephant seals.<\/p>\n

On the same day of the year in 2022 and 2024, the scientists used hand-launched drones to take images of the island\u2019s three biggest breeding beaches.<\/p>\n

After bird flu arrived, the number of breeding females plummeted by 47 per cent, a loss of around 53,000 seals, according to the study.<\/p>\n

Many pups also died on the beach after being abandoned by their bird-flu-infected mothers.<\/p>\n

Scientists at the breeding ground on the Valdes Peninsula along Argentina\u2019s coast have determined that 97 per cent of elephant seal pups died either from being abandoned or contracting bird flu in 2023.<\/p>\n

On the peninsula, an even higher rate of breeding females \u2013 67 per cent \u2013 were estimated to have been wiped out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A researcher launches a drone to study the number of southern elephant seals in Hound Bay, on South Georgia island.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: AFP<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the South Georgia population responds similarly to the modelled outlook at Peninsula Valdes, the future is bleak,\u201d the authors of the new study said.<\/p>\n

However, Bamford did not think the elephant seals would be pushed \u201cclose to extinction\u201d.<\/p>\n

The South Georgia population is much larger \u2013 numbering in the hundreds of thousands \u2013 so is likely to be more resilient, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat being said, the impacts to this population will be felt for many years to come,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

For the Valdes seals, scientists have estimated that the aftermath of this bird flu outbreak will likely reverberate until the end of the century.<\/p>\n

The researchers believe that the seals are transmitting the virus to each other via water droplets, Dr Bamford said.<\/p>\n

While elephants spend most of their time in the water, they breed in densely packed colonies on wide, sandy beaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are thousands of them together, all coughing and splattering,\u201d Dr Bamford said, adding that the seals are also particularly \u201csnotty\u201d.<\/p>\n

The scientist called for \u201cregular check-ups\u201d on South Georgia\u2019s elephant seals. AFP<\/p>\n

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