Racing to Save #California’s #ElephantSeals From #BirdFlu
In 2023, bird #flu arrived on the rocky shores of the Valdés Peninsula in Argentina, ripping through the local colony of southern elephant seals. More than 17,000 seal pups died. It could take decades for the population to recover.
Now, a team of #ecologists, #epidemiologists and #veterinarians is scrambling to keep the same thing from happening to northern elephant seals.
https://www.nytimes.com/card/2025/06/03/science/bird-flu-mammals-elephant-seals-california
https://archive.ph/Xe8d6
#H5N1 #influenza

Relaxing on the beach.
#elephantseals #seals #wildlife #Ocean #Beach #Coast #California #nature

Seal species carries 'genetic scars' after being hunted to the edge of extinction https://phys.org/news/2024-09-species-genetic-scars-edge-extinction.html

Genomic, fitness consequences of a near-extinction event in the northern elephant seal https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02533-2

"Northern #ElephantSeals have staged a remarkable comeback after narrowly escaping #extinction (the population has recovered to 225,000 #animals), but new research reveals lasting effects... The reduced diversity may impair their ability to cope with future changes"

Northern elephant #seals use deep-sea research #sonar as dinner bell https://phys.org/news/2024-09-northern-elephant-deep-sea-sonar.html

#DeepSea observatory provides insights into the behavior at depth of sub-adult male northern #ElephantSeals, Mirounga angustirostris: Héloïse Frouin-Mouy et al. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0308461

"The seals appeared to use this sound to locate an area with prey and may take advantage of #fish disturbed by the camera lights, particularly targeting #sablefish, their preferred meal, as seen in the video footage"