Bloomberg – A fast spreading form of bird flu is devastating colonies where almost half of the world’s wandering albatrosses breed on a remote island group halfway between South Africa and Antarctica.
High pathogenicity avian influenza virus has been confirmed on South Africa’s Marion Island.
Of the 1,900 wandering albatross chicks born on the island in 2024, some 150 have died and adult brown skuas, king penguins, giant petrels and sooty albatrosses have also been affected.
“The deaths of adult seabirds are of greater concern than chicks, because most species only start to breed at three to 10 years of age, and most affected species raise at most one chick per year” …
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