The largest continental colony of marine elephants, decimated by an outbreak of avian influenza

Marine elephants are mammals that live between land and sea. Large divers, who can dive to more than a thousand meters deep in search of fish and squid, come out of the water in early spring to reproduce: males, who can measure five meters long and weigh up to 4,000 kilos, fight each other for females. The Valdés Peninsula, in the Argentine province of Chubut, houses the largest continental colony of this species (Mirounga leonina) all over the …

Buenos Aires, April 26, 2025 — It is a massacre of elephant seals in Australia, hit by an epidemic of avian influenza. It happened on the Valdés Peninsula, in Patagonia, where the largest continental colony of elephant seals in the world resides. At the end of 2023, it was approaching 60,000 individuals, when the epidemic killed almost all the puppies born that year and up to 60% of the breeding females in the areas with the highest density. A y…