Overview
- A peer‑reviewed study in Communications Biology led by the British Antarctic Survey estimates a 47% drop, or about 53,000 fewer breeding females, at South Georgia’s three largest beaches.
- Researchers derived the loss by comparing hand‑launched drone imagery taken on the same day in 2022 and 2024 at St. Andrews Bay and two other major breeding sites.
- South Georgia historically hosts about 54% of the world’s breeding southern elephant seals, raising global concerns over long‑term demographic impacts.
- High pup mortality accompanied the die‑off, with many pups abandoned by infected mothers, and researchers say deaths at sea likely mean true losses are undercounted.
- Field reports in 2025 indicate breeding counts are even lower than in 2024 as H5N1 continues to circulate, echoing severe outcomes seen at Argentina’s Valdes Peninsula and pointing to likely droplet and close‑contact transmission in dense colonies.