First case of walrus dying from bird flu recorded in Arctic
First case of walrus dying from bird flu recorded in Arctic
www.theguardian.com
First case of walrus dying from bird flu recorded in Arctic
10 comments
-
-
This is probably the same strain that wiped out almost all of the seal and sea lion pups last year.
Bird flu is decimating seal colonies. Scientists don’t know how to stop it — AP NewsI did not realize there’s been a bird flu epidemic since 2020. I wish I were quicker to characterize my thoughts - it’s interesting that the animal kingdom has faced their own pandemic while humans had one, too. My thoughts range from solemn concerns to silly ‘Mother Earth decided to press the reset button’ jokes. I hope it mutates to be gentler, in the way that COVID has.
-
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The first case of a walrus dying from bird flu has been detected on one of Norway’s Arctic islands, a researcher has said.
The walrus was found last year on Hopen island in the Svalbard archipelago, Christian Lydersen, of the Norwegian Polar Institute, told AFP.
Frank Wong, a molecular microbiologist at the CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory, said transmission to walrus was of significant concern to marine mammals.
Walrus, which can grow to a weight of two tonnes, eat mainly fish and shellfish, but sometimes also consume marine birds.
Lydersen said it was important to monitor developments as walrus tend to group together in summer months when the ice flow melts.
Thousands of marine mammals have died from bird flu viruses in South America, according to Antarctic researchers.
The original article contains 328 words, the summary contains 128 words. Saved 61%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
-
seems exciting 😬
10 comments
Climate change wasn’t enough? We’ve figured out a new way to punish the animal kingdom for existing on the same planet as humans?
Capitalism creates monocultures which increasingly leads to issues like this.
If it keeps going like this it's only a matter of time before the animal kingdom punishes us right back.
What has it got to do with humans?
Bird flu and quick spread of it is likely caused by massive poultry farms, human induced transfer by trade, and transference from contaminated boots combined with travel.