A dangerous virus attacked the main wildlife shelter on Earth: millions of lives under threat

Now scientists have found that bird flu has also reached one of the world's largest wildlife shelters - the British overseas territory, southern George, writes BBC. It is known that H5N1 has already infected many birds of different species, but now the victims of Papuan and Royal Penguins have become victims - the virus was confirmed in a dozen individuals.

Fortunately, the breeding season is completed on the Subantarctic Island, and therefore the direct consequences, according to scientists, will be limited. In focus. Technology has appeared its Telegram channel. Subscribe not to miss the latest and most intrusive news from the world of science! However, scientists are afraid that the next season, when the wildlife is going together again, the threat will be larger.

Southern George beaches are famous for their amazing clusters: more than a million individuals gather here every year to look after, mate and raise their cubs. According to Dr. Norman Retcliffe, birds ecologist from the British Antarctic Service, the concentration of wild animals around the local coast is simply phenomenal - many species of penguins, albatros and seals can be found in these territories.

Therefore, there is a danger that bird flu can spread and cause high mortality throughout the island. Highly pathogenic bird flu (VPG) has been around for decades. However, today the world has covered a large flash when the H5N1 virus strain causes the death of innumerable wild and domestic birds. All this time, Antarctica has been able to avoid the worst scenario, but now the threat was hanging over the ice continent.

It should be noted that for the first time in southern George, bird flu was discovered in October 2023 - then the population of predatory birds of Poorniki was injured. However, the virus was also discovered from the seagulls, it is assumed that they were infected through algae. Then, in January this year, the cases were confirmed in elephants and seals. It also extends to Antarctic ridges and wandering albatros. The penguins actually became the last group of animals affected by the bird flu.

However, this barrier fell - 10 penguins confirmed the bird flu. The virus has already reached the Papuans in the Falkland Islands for about 1500 km to the west, so it is likely that infection and southern George was only a matter of time. Scientists are currently watching how bird flu interacts with different types of penguins. For example, in southern George, as a rule, there are royal, Papuan, pasta and Antarctic penguins.