Veterinarians previously thought dolphins had low susceptibility to flu infections — and dolphins don’t feed on birds. So biologists were highly concerned when a dolphin with the bird flu died in Florida.
The infected dolphin was trapped between a dock and a seawall in the Big Bend region in March 2022. By the time wildlife officials arrived, it had died. They later found that it was infected with bird flu. The discovery — the first known case of a dolphin contracting bird flu in U.S. waters — sent a jolt of concern through wildlife officials.
Bird flu is highly contagious and deadly to many animals. If the virus, which can wipe out swaths of both bird and mammal populations, were to spread among dolphins, whales and manatees, it could be “catastrophic for these populations,” a recent paper published by the University of Florida and other institutions said.
Now, the new paper is bringing some clarity, offering clues as to how the dolphin may have contracted the virus. To better understand the virus and suss out how the dolphin may have contracted it, the UF team sent tissue samples to an enhanced laboratory at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee.
“We wanted to find out, OK, why would this dolphin come down with this?” said Michael Walsh, a veterinarian working with the aquatic animal health program at the University of Florida, and one of the authors on the study.