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Why It Issues: Penguins are already below strain.
The acquainted black-and-white birds are going through quite a few threats, together with local weather change, air pollution and industrial fishing. Three Antarctic penguin species — emperor penguins, southern rockhopper penguins and macaroni penguins — are listed as susceptible or close to threatened.
Earlier than H5N1 arrived within the Antarctic area final fall, extremely pathogenic chicken flu viruses had by no means been documented within the space earlier than. That implies that the penguins are more likely to have little present immunity. And since they breed in massive, crowded colonies, as soon as one penguin is contaminated, the virus might unfold quickly, inflicting mass mortalities. (Because the virus unfold by way of South America final yr, Chile reported the deaths of 1000’s of Humboldt penguins.)
The extent of the virus’s unfold in Antarctic penguin populations stays unclear.
Within the Falkland Islands, some gentoo penguins seemed to be sick or torpid, and a small quantity confirmed neurological signs, earlier than they had been discovered lifeless, Ms. Heathman mentioned. The virus has not but been confirmed in some other native penguin species, she mentioned, however testing of rockhopper penguins is underway.
Not less than one suspected case has additionally been reported in king penguins in South Georgia, one other British territory, according to the Antarctic Wildlife Well being Community, which is a part of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.
That report was based mostly on a single lifeless king penguin, and investigators haven’t seen a spike in penguin deaths at that location, mentioned Laura Willis, the chief govt of the federal government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. “We’re monitoring the scenario throughout the islands,” she mentioned.
Background: Scientists have been fearful concerning the unfold of the virus in Antarctica.
The virus, which first emerged in 2020, has taken an unprecedented toll on wild birds and mammals. After the virus was detected on the tip of South America final yr, OFFLU, a worldwide community of flu consultants, warned that the pathogen might unfold to Antarctica subsequent.
The Antarctic area supplies essential breeding territory for greater than 100 million birds in addition to seals, sea lions and different marine mammals. If the virus arrived within the area, its influence on these animals “could possibly be immense,” OFFLU mentioned in a press release final August.
Simply two months later, the virus was detected in brown skuas in South Georgia, the primary circumstances within the area. Since then, infections have been confirmed in quite a few different chicken species, in addition to in elephant and fur seals. These marine mammals additionally breed in massive colonies, they usually suffered main losses because the virus unfold by way of South America, the place tens of 1000’s of seals and sea lions had been reported lifeless. Scientists fear that the identical destiny could befall Antarctica’s seals because the virus spreads.
Infections haven’t but been reported on the Antarctic mainland, though consultants have mentioned that the virus could already be spreading there undetected.
Hyperlinks to go deeper: Right here’s extra on the chicken flu outbreaks.
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