"We think we were able to witness the very start," said Christine Johnson, a professor of epidemiology at UC Davis, regarding the H5N1 outbreak among elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park."
"That long-term individual-based data set gives us a really unparalleled opportunity to understand how this virus affects uniquely identifiable animals," said Roxanna Beltran, who leads the research program at UC Santa Cruz, highlighting the value of six decades of elephant seal monitoring."
"Field teams already monitoring the colony noticed a slight uptick in dead seals late last week and observed animals showing neurological symptoms, including tremors, weakness and seizure-like activity."
Seven weaned northern elephant seal pups at Año Nuevo State Park have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1. Field teams monitoring the colony detected a slight increase in dead seals and observed animals exhibiting neurological symptoms including tremors, weakness, and seizure-like activity. Public elephant seal tours have been canceled for the remainder of the season as a precautionary measure to protect wildlife and prevent virus transmission through foot traffic. The park hosts one of the world's most intensively studied elephant seal colonies, with approximately 3,000 seals present during winter breeding season. Researchers have tracked over 55,000 individual seals across six decades through flipper tags and long-term monitoring, providing unprecedented data to understand how the virus affects uniquely identifiable animals. The outbreak currently appears concentrated among weaned pups, young seals recently abandoned by their mothers.
#avian-influenza-h5n1 #elephant-seals #wildlife-disease-outbreak #epidemiology-research #marine-mammal-health
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