A highly pathogenic strain of bird flu is spreading south along the Antarctic Peninsula and could devastate populations of penguins and other seabirds. H5N1 bird flu has been found in dead birds on Antarctica for the first time. The deadly strain of bird flu is currently spreading south along the Antarctic Peninsula and could spread around the continent, with devastating consequences for wildlife such as penguins.
“It’s scary. Fortunately, it’s affecting just a few [birds],” says Juliana Vianna at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago. “I hope it stays that way, but avian flu in Chile and Peru was a disaster. It killed thousands and thousands of seabirds and sea lions.”