Apocalypse here. For the first time in the story of the crazed seals massively attack people: why is it happening

The series of seagoing seals on surfers and beach holiday lovers was the first in the history of a major outbreak of marine inhabitants. Called seals in South Africa in the Cape Town area attack people during the first famous major outbreak of marine mammals. Currently, 10 animals have been given a positive rabies result, Live Science writes.

According to experts, healthy seals are usually playful about people, and therefore the outbreak has led to the seals began to behave strangely and aggressively - attacking the surfer and lovers of beach holidays. In focus. Technology has appeared its Telegram channel. Subscribe not to miss the latest and most intrusive news from the world of science! Raby is a deadly viral disease that is transmitted mainly through saliva.

It affects the central nervous system and causes symptoms such as heat, pain, tingling or burning at the site of the wound. If medical care is not provided immediately after infection, the virus extends to the central nervous system and leads to fatal inflammation of the spinal cord and brain. Scientists say that the first symptoms can occur from a week to two years, but as a rule, they are noticeable within 1-3 months after infection.

Scientists say that the latter known case of rabies of seal occurred more than 40 years ago, in 1980, in the Norwegian Islands of Svalbard. A new surge in cases is considered to be the first in the world a significant flash of rabies among marine mammals. But scientists still do not understand how the rabies struck this population of sea seals. South African seashells (Arctocephalus Pusillus) began to behave strangely a few years ago.

It is reported that a burst of messages occurred at the end of 2021 - then people reported that animals act more aggressively than usual. Scientists and animal protection experts responded to reports: they caught and protested several animals at once, trying to determine the cause of aggression. Unfortunately, in the last 40 years there has been only one case of rabies contamination, so the researchers have not even thought of testing for the disease.

The reason for the aggression of sea seals has become known only now when the seal has bitten in a few minutes at least three surfers off the coast. It is known that the incident happened 19 kilometers south of the center of Cape Town. The victims say that the small seal at the speed flew to the surfers, jumped one on his back and made a hole in a waterproof, and then bit it. At about the same time, a seal with bloody wounds on the muzzle was thrown ashore.

Scientists suggest that the wounds were applied to another extremely aggressive seal. As a result, the local authorities were forced to sleep four seals, and then carried out tests for rabies. The tests showed that three of the four seals have been infected with rabies, and since then the number of reported cases has increased to 11. Fortunately, according to researchers, despite the fact that quite a few people were bitten, the disease did not look beyond the population of animals.