Almost 96 percent of Southern elephant seal pups across Argentina born in 2023 have met a tragic end as a highly contagious strain of avian influenza continues to wreak havoc on wildlife.
The scale of mortality sparks concerns that the H5N1 strain is now capable of mammal-to-mammal infection.
“The sight of elephant seals found dead or dying along the breeding beaches can only be described as apocalyptic,” says Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) health director Chris Walzer.
The three beaches where the species breeds were littered with over 17,000 bodies of baby Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina).
“This 2023 die-off contrasts starkly with the 18,000 pups born and successfully weaned in 2022,” explains Walzer.
This amounts to the loss of nearly an entire generation of elephant seals in the region. As these animals take at least three years to reach maturity, the impact on their population may not be felt until 2027 when there are fewer available breeding adults to produce subsequent generations.