Assessing the impact of a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus upon the Elephant Seal population of South Georgia.

The Southern Elephant Seal, Mirounga leonina, is the largest species of Pinniped (the group which includes Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses) and an important predator in the circumpolar Southern Ocean. They breed annually, coming ashore on Sub-Antarctic islands in the southern summer. The males emerge first, carving out territories in bouts of competitive fighting, which they then defend for the rest of the season. The pregnant females emerge later, settling in the territories of one of the males, to form harems, groups of females defended by a male. Here they give birth, wean their cub, and finally, at the end of the season, come into oestrus, allowing the male to mate with them before they return to the sea.

Elephant Seals on a beach on South Georgia Island. George Lemann/South Georgia Museum.

There are four genetically distinct populations of Southern Elephant Seals, the  Peninsula Valdés Population, which breeds on the Argentinian coast, the South Georgia Population, which breeds on the islands of the South Atlantic, including South Georgia, South Sandwich Island, and the Falkland Islands, the Macquarie Population, which breeds on the Islands of the South Pacific, and the Heard and Kerguelen Population, which breeds on the islands of the southern Indian Ocean, including the Crozet and Prince Edward archipelagos. Of these populations, the South Georgia Population is thought to be the largest, containing about 54% of the global population.

Because Southern Elephant Seals live in remote locations, data on their populations is difficult to gather, making it difficult to compare populations directly. The Peninsula Valdés Population, possibly the easiest to monitor, is known to have grown by between 1 and 3.4% each year for the past five decades. The South Georgia Population is thought to be stable. The Macquarie Population is thought to have shrunk throughout the twentieth century, going through a slight recovery in the early twenty first century, before starting to shrink again more recently. In the Indian Ocean, the sub-population on Marion Island, in the Prince Edward Archipelago, has declined by 83% since 1950, which represents an annual decline of 5.8%, the Îles Crozet sub-population shrank by 5.4% per year between 1970 and 1990, but more recently have been growing at about 5.1, while the Îles Kerguelen sub-population shrank by 47% between 1952 and 1987, then rose by almost 1% per year between 1987 and 2009, and has been rising at about 1.6% annually more recently.

Influenza A Viruses are Negative-strand RNA Viruses which circulate naturally in both Animal and Human populations, causing seasonal flu. Occasionally a particularly more virulent strains of Influenza A appear, causing large mortality rates among affected species, such as the notorious Spanish Flu, which may have killed over 100 million people between 1918 and 1920. Avian Influenza is a form of Influenza A Virus which first appeared on poultry farms in China in late 2003, rapidly spreading to other farms across East Asia during 2004, causing mass deaths of poultry everywhere it reached. In 2005 it caused a mass death of wild Birds on Qinghai Lake in central China, a lake which is used as a stopover for many migratory Bird species. Later that year cases began to appear in Europe and Africa. While mainly affecting Birds, Avian Influenza can infect Mammals, including Humans, however, although it can be fatal, it seldom spreads between members of most Mammal species, limiting the size of any outbreaks. However, some Mammals appear to be more vulnerable than others with the Virus spreading without the need for further contact with Birds. Such vulnerable Mammals include Cows and Seals.

Negative stained transmission electron micrograph showing  recreated 1918 influenza Virions that were collected from supernatants of 1918-infected Madin-Darby Canine Kidney cells cultures 18 hours after infection. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention/Wikimedia Commons.

Since this time several strains of Avian Influenza have appeared, which have been loosely divided into Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Viruses, which typically kill more than 75%  of the Birds in any infected population, and Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza Viruses, which typically kill less than 75%. The 2.3.4.4b clade is a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus which first appeared in Europe in 2020, and has subsequently spread to North and South America, where it caused mass deaths among Seabirds and Marine Mammals in 2022. In September 2023, a Brown Skua, Stercorarius antarcticus, on Bird Island, South Georgia, was found to have died as a result of infection with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus, with the infection subsequently spreading to Gentoo Penguins, Pygoscelis papua, Snowy Albatrosses, Diomedea exulans,Antarctic Fur Seals, Arctocephalus gazella, and Southern Elephant Seals. In 2024, the Virus was also confirmed on Îles Crozet and Îles Kerguelen in the southern Indian Ocean.

During the 2023/4 breeding season, Southern Elephant Seals on South Georgia were monitored for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus via sample collecting at sites which could be accessed from the sea, in combination with observations made from research vessels and cruise ships, suggested that the colony could have lost as many as 97% of its pups.

In a paper published in the journal Communications Biology on 13 November 2025, Connor. Bamford, Nathan Fenney, Jamie Coleman, Cameron Fox-Clarke, and John Dickens of the British Antarctic Survey, Mike Fedak of the Sea Mammal Research Unit at University of St Andrews, Peter Fretwell, also of the British Antarctic Survey, Luis Hückstädt of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter, and Phil Hollyman, again of the British Antarctic Survey, and of the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University, present a study of the three largest Southern Elephant Seal numbers on South Georgia, based upon photographic data collected by an uncrewed aerial vehicle.

In October 2024, 4373 female Southern Elephant Seals were observed at St Andrews Bay, whereas 6305 were recorded in October 2022. At Hound Bay, 1154 females were observed in 2024, compared to 1901 in 2022. This represents a 47% decline in the number of breeding females at these two sights between 2022 and 2024, and a 33.7% decline compared the long term population average (taken between 1958 and 2022). Bamford et al. extrapolate for that this would represent in a total fall in the number of breeding females across South Georgia of about 55 000.

Locations of the largest breeding colonies of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina, on South Georgia. Sites of the three largest breeding colony beaches of Southern Elephant Seals, Mirounga leonina, on South Georgia (by total number of breeding females from the 1995 census where aerial imagery was collected in 2022 and 2024, Bamford et al. (2025).

Bamford et al. note that there are gaps in our knowledge of Elephant Seal breeding, which affect how their data should be interpreted. It is possible that the reduction in the number of breeding females represents a direct measure of the rate of adult mortality suffered by Southern Elephant Seals on South Georgia as a result of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus infection. However, female Seals whose pups die tend to leave the breeding beaches fairly quickly, and it is therefore possible that many Seals left beaches in 2023 before coming into oestrus and mating, and therefore did not return in 2024 to raise pups. It is unclear how female Elephant Seals return to the breeding population after losing a pup, although it seems unlikely that they simply stop breeding altogether. 

Another potential disruption to Elephant Seal breeding behaviour comes from sea ice. In 2023 sea ice in the Southern Atlantic cover was the lowest ever recorded at that time (2024 subsequently produced even lower ice levels). This potentially had an impact on the Elephant Seals, as sea ice has a stabilising effect on the Southern Ocean, tending to suppress the formation of storms, as well has having an impact on the ecology of many prey species. However, Bamford et al. do not believe that this is likely to have caused a sufficient disruption to the Seals to explain the observed population drop, given the wide area over which they typically forage.

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Lutra perspicillata: Smooth Coated Otter confirmed within the Papikonda National Park, Andhra Pradesh.

The Smooth Coated Otter, Lutra perspicillata, is one of three species of Otter found in India, along with the Asian  Small-clawed  Otter, Aonyx cinereus, and the Eurasian Otter, Lutra lutra. It is found in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal states, but has suffered from a declining population due to habitat loss, poaching, pollution, and the eutrophication of waterways. The species is classified as Vulnerable under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.

In Andhra Pradesh, Smooth Coated Otters are known from the East Godavari, West Godavari,  and Visakhapatnam districts, as well as the Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary, all on the state's northeastern coastal plain. There have also been unconfirmed reports of the species in the Papikonda National Park in the Papi Hills, inland of that coastal plain, although this has not, to date, been confirmed.

In a paper published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa on 26 September 2025, Arun Kumar Gorati, Ritesh Vishwakarma, Anukul Nath, and Parag Nigam of the Wildlife Institute of India, detail the first confirmed sighting of a Smooth Coated Otter in the Papikonda National Park, backed up with photographic evidence.

The Otter was spotted resting on a sandbank exposed by low summer water levels on the Godavari River, about 5 km above the Polavaram Dam Project, slightly before 6.00 pm local time on 12 June 2024. It remained on the bank for about a minute, before entering the water and not being seen again.

A Smooth Coated Otter, Lutra perspicillata, on a sandbank on the Godavari River in the Papikonda National Park on 12 June 2024. Gorati et al. (2025).

As well as being of value in themselves, Otters are an important environmental indicator, demonstrating that the river has a healthy year-round Fish population, capable of supporting piscivorous predators.

However, this ecosystem is currently threatened by the development of the  Polavaram Dam Project. First conceived in the 1940s, work began on the project in the 1980s, with the aim of creating an irrigation system which will provide 2900 km² of farmland and 2 850 000 people with a reliable water supply, and produce hydroelectric power system capable of providing electricity to the entire State of Andhra Pradesh. However, when completed the dam should create a lake covering 631 km² of land, including much of the Papikonda National Park and the traditional lands of the Kondareddy people (considered to be a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group), who have been fighting to gain compensation for the planned losses. The project halted in 2019, due to a lack of funds and a flood which damaged a diaphragm wall, but work resumed in 2024, and the project is currently on course for completion in 2027. It already holds the record for the most concrete used for a single project in Human history.

The Polavaram Dam Project under construction. Hindustan Times.

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Felis chaus: Observations of the Jungle Cat in by the lower reaches of the Jordan River, Jordan.

The Jungle Cat, Felis chaus, is a medium-sized Felid found in wetlands across the Middle East, Caucasus region, South and Southeast Asia, and southern China. It is not currently considered globally threatened, but is known to be in decline across its range due to the ongoing loss of wetland habitats. In Jordan the species is currently considered to be Critically Endangered, with the last known record of the species being two dead specimens found in February 1998, on Al–Baqurah Island in the Yarmouk River Valley. However, much of the key environment for the species is found along the Jordan Valley, much of which has been designated a military zone with very limited access.

In a paper published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa on 26 July 2024, freelance conservationists Ehab Eid and Mohammed Farid Alayyan of Amman in Jordan present new evidence for the presence of the Jungle Cat in the Jordan Valley of Jordan, based upon camara trap evidence gathered during a survey targeting the Golden Jackal, Canis aureus.

The camera traps were placed on a private farm growing Citrus fruit at Sheikh Hussein, in the north of the Ghor region, between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The boundaries of the farm extend to the Jordan River, where there is an area of wetlands dominated by Common Reeds Phragmites communis, Cattails, Typha domingensis, and Athel Trees, Tamarix aphylla. The area is also home to other wetland Plants, including Sieber’s Wormwood, Artemisia sieberi, Christ’s Thorn Jujube, Ziziphus spina-christi,  Arabian  Fagonia, Fagonia  arabica,  and  Common  Mallow, Malva sylvestris. The area is an important refuge for migratory Birds such as Ducks, Herons, Egrets, and Storks, but is not subject to any form of protection, with the water being affected by herbicide and fertilizer run-off from local farms, and Reed-beds subjected to frequent clearing by farmers who perceive them as a fire-hazard.

Eid and Alayyan placed four camera traps in the Reed beds between June 2020 and 28 February 2022. There were mounted between 40 and 50 cm above the ground, and faced both north and south, to avoid false records during  sunrise  and  sunset. No bait was placed, and the cameras were checked monthly.

During this period, five observations of Jungle Cats were made, with all four cameras making observations. The first observation was made on 12 January 2021 at 12.58 in the afternoon, the second on 17 January 2021 at 9.33 in the evening, the third on 11 April 2021 at 21.35 in the evening, the forth on 3 September 2021 at 10.41 in the evening, and the final observation on 30 January 2022 at 2.12 in the morning.

Jungle Cats photographed in the study area between 12 January 2021 and 30 January 2022. Ehab Eid in Eid & Alayyan (2024).

The camera traps also imaged several other species, including Golden Jackal, Canis aureus, Egyptian Mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon, Wild Boar, Sus scrofa, Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes, and numerous Rodents and Birds, as well as four feral Dogs living on the farm.

To the best of Eid and Alayyan's knowledge, this is the first camera trap survey carried out in the Jordan Valley, and has established the presence of the Jungle Cat in Jordan 22 years after the previous  record, of dead Animals, although the data gathered was not sufficient to determine the number of Cats in the area.

Despite the heavy agricultural activity in the area, it appears to remain a suitable environment for Jungle Cats, with dense vegetation along riverbeds and an abundant supply of Rodents, the favoured prey of Cats.

Jungle Cats were only observed a very limited time, despite the long duration of the study, although this is at least in part due to the dense vegetation in the study area, which proved a general hindrance to observations, interfering with observations of Animals and producing numerous observations of swaying Plants. However, Eid and Alayyan suggest that it is this dense vegetation which makes the environment suitable for Jungle Cats, which are known to be averse to encounters with Humans. 

While Jungle Cats are still persisting in the Jordan Valley, their habitat is threatened by Human activities, with agricultural expansion altering the environment, causing the Reed-beds to fragment and degrade. 

During the time when the study was being carried out, a Jungle Cat was also recorded at Al-Mashare’e, about 6 km to the south of the study area, where it became entangled in a Chicken-protection net, being videoed before escaping. Based upon this, Eid and Alayyan propose that a citizen-science approach, in which residents of the Jordan Valley are encouraged to report sightings of Jungle Cats, may reveal more about the presence of, and threats faced by, the species in the region.

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Photographic evidence for the presence of Snow Leopards in the Kishtwar High Altitude National Park, Jammu and Kashmir, India.

Snow Leopards, Panthera uncia, are the least well understood of the Big Cats, due to their secretive habits and the remote and inhospitable environments in which they live. The species is currently considered to be Vulnerable under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, although our poor understanding of the species numbers and distribution makes this largely a guess. There thought to be about 400-700 Snow Leopards in India (about 2% of the global population), inhabiting the sub-alpine, alpine and trans-Himalayan regions of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Within Kashmir, Snow Leopards are known from Gurez and Sonamarg, the upper Baltal-Zojila region, the Kargil Range, and the areas adjacent to the north-eastern and south-eastern boundary of Kishtwar that connect with the Zanskar range in the Union Territory of Ladakh. In other parts of Kashmir, including many protected areas, the presence of Snow Leopards is uncertain.

In a paper published in the journal Oryx on 9 May 2024, Oyndrila Sanyal of the Wildlife Biology Laboratory at the University of Kashmir, Tawqir Bashir, also of the Wildlife Biology Laboratory at the University of Kashmir, and of the Division of Wildlife Sciences at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, and Monaj Rana and Pankaj Chandan of the Nature, Wildlife and Climate Change Division of the National Development Foundation, present the results of camara-trap survey for Snow Leopards carried out in the Kishtwar High Altitude National Park in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Kishtwar High Altitude National Park covers an area of 2191 km², at altitudes ranging from 1800 m and 6000 m, between the Chenab River and the Nagin Sheer Glacier. The park borders Ladakh to the northeast and Himachal Pradesh to the south. Most areas in the park above an altitude of about 4300 m are essentially inaccessible, due to the rugged nature of the terrain and the hostile climate. The wide range of altitudes in the park, combined with similar variations in slope and moisture availability, lead to the presence of a wide range of vegetation types. The park supports thousands of nomadic herders, and is home to a number of temples, which draw large numbers of pilgrims. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Snow Leopards may be present in the Kishtwar High Altitude National Park, with claims of a possible sighting as well as several reports of tracks, although none of these has been photographed or confirmed by scientists.

Sanyal et al. divided the Kishtwar High Altitude National Park into a grid of 5 km x 5 km cells. Camera-traps were placed at 57 locations in 18 cells for a year, between May 2022 and June 2023. Up to four cameras were placed in a single cell, concentrating on natural trails, trail junctions, ridge lines and other locations likely to be used by Carnivores. Cameras were checked once a month (except in winter) to ensure they were working, and replace their memory cards. All of the camera-traps were placed in the southern, south-western and central areas of the park; the northern, north-eastern, eastern and south-eastern regions being above 4500 m and largely covered by glaciers.

The study area, showing the location of camera-trap stations and the new Snow Leopard, Panthera uncia, occurrence records in Kishtwar High Altitude National Park, Jammu and Kashmir, India, and three earlier records in the adjacent landscape. Sanyal et al. (2024).

At 11.03 pm local time on 19 September 2022, a camera-trap located Kiyar catchment of the Dacchan range at 3280 m above sealevel captured an image of two Snow Leopards. This was the first photographic evidence ever obtained for the species being present in the Kishtwar High Altitude National Park. During the remainder of the survey, seven further images were obtained in three other grid squares, in the Kiyar and Nanth catchments of the Dacchan Range and the Renai catchment of the Marwah Range. Of the eight images captured, four were taken at night and four in the day. Based upon their patterns (which are unique to individual Leopards), at least four different members of the species were observed. All of the images were taken at altitudes of between 3004 m and 3878 m, in an arid alpine region above the treelike, with a steep and rugged terrain flanked by high-altitude pastures of Junipers, Grasses and Legumes on rolling hills.

Camera-trap photographic records of the Snow Leopard, Panthera uncia, in Kishtwar High Altitude National Park, Jammu and Kashmir, India; (a) is the first camera-trap record, on 19 September 2022, with two individuals. Sanyal et al.  (2024).

Sanyal et al. also recorded the presence of Siberian Ibex and Himalayan Musk Deer in the same areas are the Snow Leopards, as well as Long-tailed Marmots, and Pika, all of which could serve as potential prey species. The most frequently recorded of these species was the Siberian Ibex. A number of other Carnivore species were also recorded, including Himalayan Brown Bear, Asian Black Bear, Red Fox, Leopard Cat, Yellow-throated Marten, and Mountain Weasel. The Red Fox was the overall most frequently imaged Animal in the study, but this is probably because the cameras were positioned to detect Carnivores; it is not suggested that Carnivores are more common than prey Animals.

Sanyal et al. note that the area is under considerable pressure from Human activities, with about 3000 herders regularly visiting the alpine pastures in the Marwah Range, bringing with them about 150 000 head of livestock. This many domestic Animals presents a threat to the prey species relied on by the Snow Leopards, and therefore the Leopards themselves. This could potentially lead to Human-Leopard conflict if the Leopards respond to a shortage of prey by targeting livestock, or to the Leopards being excluded from pasturelands and forced to depend on less optimal environments. The camara-trap evidence suggests that both the Leopards and their prey species tend to avoid livestock grazing areas during summer (May-August) which could mean that anthropogenic pressures are already affecting them. 

The Kishtwar High Altitude National Park is clearly a habitat utilised by Snow Leopards, potentially providing a bridge between three other important Snow Leopard habitats, the greater Himalayas of Jammu and Kashmir, the trans-Himalayas of Ladakh,  and the lesser Himalayas of Himachal Pradesh. This implies that the park is important to Snow Leopard conservation efforts in India, and globally. To this end, Sanyal et al. recommend a more comprehensive study of Snow Leopards in the Kishtwar High Altitude National Park is carried out, including areas such as the Paddar and Wadwan valleys, which were missed in their study.

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Panthera tigris sondaica: A possible sighting of the 'extinct' Javan Tiger.

Indonesia was once home to three species of Tiger, the Sumatran Tiger, Panthera tigris sumatrae, the Javan Tiger, Panthera tigris sondaica, and the Bali Tiger, Panthera tigris balica. Two of these species  have been declared extinct in the past twenty years, the Javan Tiger in 2008, and the Bali Tiger in 2013, using the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's criteria of not having been observed in more than 30 years; the last confirmed sighting of a Javan Tiger happened in 1976 in Meru Betiri National Park, East Java.

The Javan Tiger was endemic to Java, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was frequently encountered in lowland forests, thickets, and even gardens on the island. However, it was widely seen as a pest (Tigers will feed on both livestock and Humans), leading to widespread hunting of the species, and its presumed extinction in the last quarter of the twentieth century. The last systematic search for the species deployed 35 camera traps in the Meru Betiri National Park in 1999-2000, but made no observations.

A Javan Tiger observed in Ujung Kulon Nature Reserve (now Ujung Kulon National Park) in 1938. Andries Hoogerwerf/Wikimedia Commons.

Although there have been no confirmed sightings since 1976, rumours of the species' continued existence persist, with numerous unconfirmed sightings, reports of footprints too large to belong to a Leopard, and even reports of attacks on livestock. 

In a paper published in the journal Oryx on 21 March 2024, Wirdateti Wirdateti of the Research Center for Biosystematics and Evolution of the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency, Yulianto Yulianto of the Research Center for Applied Zoology of the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency, Kalih Raksasewu of the Yayasan Bentang Edukasi Lestari Bogor Foundation, and Bambang Adriyanto of the Cikepuh Wildlife Reserve, describe a possible sighting of a living Javan Tiger, and the results of an investigation which followed it.

On 18 August 2019, Ripi Yanur Fajar, a local resident and conservationist, reported seeing a Javan Tiger close to the village of Cipendeuy in South Sukabumi Forest, West Java, to Kalih Raksasewu, who visited the site the next day, along with Bambang Adriyanto. Ripi Yanur Fajar described the Tiger as having jumped a fence between a village road and a plantation, and examination of this fence by Raksasewu and Adriyanto led to the discovery of a single hair, which could potentially have come from a Tiger.

The hair recovered by Kalih Raksasewu and Bambang Adriyanto from a fence in Cipendeuy Village, West Java. Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency.

A genetic analysis was subsequently carried out in which DNA from the hair was compared to DNA from Sumatran Tigers, Bengal Tigers, Amur Tigers, Javan Leopards, and a museum specimen of the Javan Tiger, from Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, collected in 1930. The hair was found to show a 4.2% difference to the Leopard sample, differences of between 3.7% and 4.1% from the Sumatran, Bengal, and Amur Tigers, but only a 0.3%d difference from the Javan Tiger museum specimen.

Wirdateti et al. stop short of claiming that they have proof that the Javan Tiger still exists on the basis of a single hair, but do believe that the hair comes from a member of the species, and that this merits further investigation into the possibility of a surviving population of these Tigers in West Java.

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