‘Putting biodiversity in our hands’: British wildlife will soon be celebrated on banknotes

Copyright Canva

By Angela Symons

Published on 11/03/2026 - EURONEWS

More than 26,000 people voted to put nature on sterling notes.

Historical figures like Winston Churchill will soon be replaced by native wildlife on UK banknotes.

In a public consultation run by the Bank of England, the theme of nature came out on top. The exact plants and animals that will be on the notes will be chosen later this year.

“Nature is more than just scenery, it is the living thread that binds our landscapes, our history, and our future together,” says Scottish wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan, who is part of an expert panel compiling the list. “To protect nature is to protect the quiet, resilient heartbeat of the land itself.”

Not only could the new notes inspire wildlife conservation, they’re also well positioned to protect the economy.

“The key driver for introducing a new banknote series is always to increase counterfeit resilience,” says Victoria Cleland, chief cashier at the Bank of England.

“Nature is a great choice from a banknote authentication perspective,” she adds, because it lends itself to developing security features that are easy for the public to recognise and distinguish.

Related

• European hedgehogs are often hit by cars. Researchers say ultrasound could save them from extinction
• ‘Rarely seen moments’: Winners of the British Wildlife Photography Awards revealed

A vote later this year will determine which animals and plants will be on the new banknotes. Canva

Symbolic recognition of UK wildlife ‘overdue and significant’

Nature was the most popular theme among 44,000 respondents in the July 2025 consultation, capturing 60 per cent of the vote.

It will replace the current historical figures featured on the reverse side of banknotes, which include writer Jane Austen, artist JMW Turner and scientist Alan Turing, as well as the WWII Prime Minister.

“This is a powerful reminder of how deeply people feel connected to and value British wildlife,” says Ali Fisher, founder and director of sustainability consultancy Plans with Purpose. “It’s a beautiful opportunity to put biodiversity literally in all our hands.”

Related

• ‘No clear environmental benefit’: EU crackdown on ‘meaty’ plant-based labels sparks climate concern

Architecture and Landmarks was the second most popular at 56 per cent, followed by Notable Historical Figures (38 per cent), Arts, Culture and Sport (30 per cent), Innovation (23 per cent) and Noteworthy Milestones (19 per cent).

“The wildlife of the UK is not separate from our culture. It sits in our football crests, our folklore, our coastlines and our childhoods,” says wildlife presenter and activist Nadeem Perera, another panel member. “Giving it space on something as symbolic as our currency feels both overdue and significant.”

The RSPA has called for Britain's "least-loved" wildlife – such as pigeons, gulls and foxes – to feature on the new banknotes. The charity says this could help change perceptions of "misunderstood" animals and encourage people to see the value of all wildlife.

“What about the pigeons who have been our friends for thousands of years, or rats, with their amazing memories, or even gulls, with their amazing levels of intelligence?," says Geoff Edmond, wildlife expert at the RSPCA. "They are all fascinating wild animals in their own right – and deserve recognition too.”

Norway’s krone series features images of the sea. Canva

From Norway to Switzerland: Which other European countries champion nature on their notes?

The Bank of England won’t be the first in Europe to give nature a place on its banknotes. Scottish notes already include animals such as mackerel, otters and red squirrels.

Norway’s latest krone series celebrates its long coastline by featuring wave motifs and Atlantic cod and herring.

Switzerland began shifting away from featuring famous personalities on its banknotes in 2016, with wind, water and light among the stars of its ‘many facets of Switzerland’ series. Butterflies, the Alps and dandelion seeds now grace its currency, with a new series set to double-down on native plants and Alpine landscapes in the 2030s.

Related

• UK national security threatened by biodiversity loss, intelligence chiefs warn

Nature could also replace architecture on future euro banknotes, with the European Central Bank considering designs featuring birds and rivers across Europe.

Following a contest for EU designers to submit proposals in 2025, the shortlisted themes are ‘Rivers and birds: resilience in diversity’ and ‘European culture: shared cultural spaces’. A final decision is expected to be made in 2026.

“In a cost‑of‑living, climate and nature crisis, small cultural shifts like this matter,” says Fisher. “They help normalise the idea that our natural world is worth celebrating, protecting and investing in.”

Nigel Farage slammed for manufacturing outrage over change to banknotes

Olivia Barber 

12 March, 2026 
Left Foot Forward

The right is losing it over the results of a public consultation on banknotes

Nigel Farage has been slammed for manufacturing outrage over the decision to replace historical figures on bank notes with animals.

Farage posted a video on X saying the decision is “woke” and shows how “PC-mad and loony everyone has gone, including the Bank of England”.

Despite the change meaning historical figures including Jane Austen and Shakespeare will be removed from banknotes, Farage expressed outrage at how Winston Churchill will be replaced with a “badger”.

The decision came from a public consultation by the Bank of England. The consultation, which received 44,000 responses, found that nature was the most popular theme to put on the next set of banknotes.

While 60% of respondents selected nature, less than 40% selected historical figures.

The badger is an example of one of the animals that could be put on the banknotes.

The badger is one of several animals that could feature on the notes. A panel of experts will now draw up a wildlife shortlist for the public to vote on.

The governor of the Bank of England will make the final decision, however it will likely be a few years before new designs enter circulation.

Luke Charters, the Labour MP for York Outer, slammed Farage for “manufacturing outrage” over the banknote changes, adding that “Farage and Reform UK have spent months attacking the Bank of England itself”.

The Reform leader has also been lobbying the Bank of England to halt its bond-selling programme and urged the central bank to embrace cryptocurrency, which Reform’s largest donor invests in.

Farage has even suggested he would replace the Bank of England Governor with someone aligned to his agenda.

Charters said: “Politicians leaning on central banks is how you spook markets and undermine confidence in the economy.

“Bank of England independence, brought in by the last Labour government, exists for a reason. To keep markets and household finances stable.”

Other figures on the right have also been complaining about the results of the consultation.

Robert Jenrick MP wrote on X: “It says it all that Rachel Reeves is replacing Winston Churchill on our banknotes with a squirrel.”

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat has written an op-ed for the Telegraph in which he claims that “the new badger banknotes tell a dismal story of national decline”.

Meanwhile, fellow Tory MP Nick Timothy said: “If Nelson, Wellington or Churchill offend anybody living in this country…

“They are welcome to leave.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

Red fox stowaway from UK finds shelter in NY’s Bronx zoo after transatlantic trip


After a journey from Southampton, England, to New York, a red fox that slipped onto a cargo ship is the care of the Bronx Zoo, according to zoo officials. Once the 11-pound male fox gets a clean bill of health from veterinarians, zookeepers said they would be looking for a long-term home for the animal.


 14/03/2026 -
By: FRANCE 24

There are tens of thousands of urban foxes in Britain, according to academic research. © Loic Venance, AFP

A red fox that managed to slip onto a US-bound ship in Britain was discovered by customs officers in the Port of New York, a zoo in the city has said.

The animal that zookeepers believe to be around two years old somehow boarded a vessel in Southampton, England, and was detected on arrival at the Port of New York and New Jersey, the Bronx Zoo said late Wednesday.

Once veterinarians give the 11-pound male fox a clean bill of health, zookeepers said they would be looking for a long-term home for the animal, which is said to be doing well.

"The Bronx Zoo regularly works with officials to help rescue wildlife that is illegally trafficked through nearby ports and airports," the zoo said.

Red foxes are one of the most prevalent carnivorous mammals globally and are found in Europe, Asia and North America as well as in parts of Africa.

There are tens of thousands of urban foxes in Britain, according to academic research, and Britain has some of the highest-density fox populations in the world.

They have been a part of the city landscape since the 1930s, when urban sprawl began to encroach on their rural territory.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Fantastic Mr Stowaway: Fox sails from Britain to New York port

By AFP
March 12, 2026


There are tens of thousands of urban foxes in Britain, according to academic research - Copyright AFP LOIC VENANCE

A red fox that managed to slip onto a US-bound ship in Britain was discovered by customs officers in the Port of New York, a zoo in the city has said.

The animal that zookeepers believe to be around two years old somehow boarded a vessel in Southampton, England, and was detected on arrival at the Port of New York and New Jersey, the Bronx Zoo said late Wednesday.

Once veterinarians give the 11-pound male fox a clean bill of health, zookeepers said they would be looking for a long-term home for the animal, which is said to be doing well.

“The Bronx Zoo regularly works with officials to help rescue wildlife that is illegally trafficked through nearby ports and airports,” the zoo said.

Red foxes are one of the most prevalent carnivorous mammals globally and are found in Europe, Asia and North America as well as in parts of Africa.

There are tens of thousands of urban foxes in Britain, according to academic research, and Britain has some of the highest-density fox populations in the world.

They have been a part of the city landscape since the 1930s, when urban sprawl began to encroach on their rural territory.

Avian Flu Strikes California’s Northern Elephant Seals; Area Quarantined – Analysis

March 9, 2026 

 Mongabay
By Christine Heinrichs


Ever since a deadly strain of avian influenza, H5N1, killed some 17,000 southern elephant seal pups on South American coastlines in 2023 and 2024, researchers and public officials have kept an extra-close eye on California’s northern elephant seals. Fears of infection have now become reality: Lab tests just proved the virus has breached this colony.

In mid-February, six young, newly weaned seals on Año Nuevo State Park beaches fell ill. They had obvious respiratory problems and also suffered from neurological symptoms, including weakness, tremors and seizures — all of which pointed to H5N1.

The research team collected samples from sick and dead elephant seals, which were analyzed at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System. Initial screening revealed that the samples were positive for avian influenza; it was then confirmed to be the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain.

As of Feb. 24, seven pups had tested positive for the virus, according to the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory. At time of publication, 30 seals had died, 29 of them weaned pups, but the cause has not yet been confirmed for all the victims.

The outbreak marks the first cases of H5N1 in marine mammals in California and the first time it’s been found in northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris). This highly contagious virus has been circulating the planet as a panzootic — an animal pandemic — since 2020, infecting and killing some 700 species of birds and mammals.

Because of the constant monitoring of these seals, the virus was detected “very early in the outbreak,” Roxanne Beltran, an assistant professor in ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, said during a press conference. Beltran’s lab leads the university’s northern elephant seal research program at Año Nuevo.

Her colleague, Christine Johnson, elaborated. “This is exceptionally rapid detection of an outbreak in free-ranging marine mammals,” she said. Johnson directs the Institute for Pandemic Insights at the University of California, Davis. “We have most likely identified the very first cases here because of coordinated teams that have been on high alert with active surveillance for this disease for some time.”

On Monday, Feb. 23, California State Parks barred the public from the elephant seal viewing area of the Año Nuevo Coast Natural Preserve. Then, with confirmation that H5N1 was responsible, tours have been canceled for the rest of the season.

A deadly virus

Avian flu — which, in another, milder strain is much like the common cold in wild birds — morphed and became pathogenic when chickens and other poultry at industrial-scale producers were exposed to the virus through contact with migrating flocks of wild birds. Since it first appeared in Europe in 2020, this “Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza” strain has devastated wildlife worldwide, the largest avian flu outbreak ever. And this panzootic is obviously not over.

H5N1 has raged on, leaping the species barrier to infect animals on six continents, pole to pole. Animals that gather in large groups, like pinnipeds and birds, are particularly vulnerable. Proximity is a big factor in a virus’s ability to spread, as the world learned too well during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Animals can be infected by contact with an infected bird or animal or their droppings. Both scavengers and carnivores may catch H5N1 by eating an infected carcass. But in 2024, researchers made a startling discovery about how this quickly mutating virus had changed: They discovered that elephant seals were passing the virus between themselves. This method of transmission makes a virus infinitely more dangerous. Since then, animal-to-animal transmission has been confirmed in the wild, in zoos and on farms.

Some of the wildlife victims are endangered species, and this virus’s ability to spread to new hosts is astounding. As of December 2025, H5N1 had infected some 598 types of bird and 102 mammal species, according to the United Nations. The numbers have jumped substantially over the past 18 months: As of August 2024, the U.N. tally was 485 bird and 48 mammal species.


H5N1 has stricken or killed animals as diverse as sea otters, house cats, terns, dolphins, foxes, California condors, rats, albatrosses, cougars, polar bears, zoo tigers — and many, many others, including humans. An outbreak in imperiled species could push them to extinction: Wildlife is already fighting to survive against a changing climate, disappearing habitat and other stressors.

On the lookout

Scientists from UC Davis have been testing samples from marine birds and mammals along the coast since 2024. With colleagues from UC Santa Cruz, they’d increased surveillance at elephant seal beaches over the past two months in anticipation of a possible disease outbreak: From mid-December through March, the area becomes a nursery, as mothers arrive and give birth to their pups. The beaches are literally littered with seals, often in very close proximity.

“Given the catastrophic impacts observed in related species, we were concerned about the possibility of the virus infecting northern elephant seals for the first time, so we ramped up monitoring to detect any early signs of abnormalities,” Beltran said.

That wasn’t only because of the massive seal die-off in South America. “We had two prior outbreaks in U.S. marine mammals; not elephant seals, but other types of seals, one in Maine in 2022 and [another] in Washington state in 2023,” Johnson said. “Because of these trends and global trends in H5N1 outbreaks around the world, our teams, both at UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz, increased disease surveillance at Año Nuevo and other locations in anticipation of a possible spillover into seals.”

The team is now working closely with NOAA Fisheries, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network to closely monitor marine mammals along the coast.

The rich eastern Pacific coast is a marine mammal hotspot, with about 350,000 northern elephant seals that haul out on at least 14 rookery beaches along the U.S. West Coast, offshore islands and Mexico.

Elephant seals congregate at various locations along the West Coast. The size of the circle shows the relative number of seals at that site. The seals’ flippers are tagged with different colors according to their birthplace. Image courtesy of Richard Condit, Population Biology of Northern Elephant Seals.

They share that coast with five other pinnipeds: 250,000-300,000 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), about 66,000 northern or Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus), some 14,000 northern fur seals, (Callorhinus ursinus), 35,000-44,000 Guadalupe fur seals (Arctocephalus townsendi) and perhaps 31,000 harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi).

With some six decades of study, researchers have amassed astounding data on this elephant seal population. It includes some 380,000 observations of 55,000 individuals.

They’ve tracked individuals, built family trees, and they knew the history of one of the victims, a dead “weaner.” It was the offspring of a mother in the study who was herself born on that beach. The pup entered the researcher’s database when she was 15 days old. She was weaned when her mother left the beach; two mornings later, she was convulsing on the beach. By afternoon, she was dead.

“It’s tough to watch animals we have followed and watched for years get sick,” Beltran said. “We know their family lineages.”

This large body of research will greatly inform assessments of the long-term effects on the population: how many pups survive, whether females are affected and future births.
Rapid transmission

The virus’s ability to mutate rapidly and its record of infecting other species make it a cause of intense concern, and seal populations have suffered catastrophic losses. In 2022-23, H5N1 swept along South America’s Atlantic and Pacific coastlines, slaying more than 30,000 sea lions in addition to the devastation of the southern elephant seal (M. leonina) population on Argentina’s Península Valdés, which was the species’ largest die-off ever.

It’s also infected people. Since 2024, 71 human cases have been diagnosed in the U.S., with two deaths. Most cases involved hands-on contact with infected cows or poultry. Current public health risk is considered low, experts say, with no person-to-person transmission reported.

“The more a virus like this is able to mutate and find its way into a wide range of species, especially farmed species that live in close contact with people like poultry and now cattle, the more the odds go up that a viral strain will more easily make that leap to people,” wildlife veterinarian Steve Osofsky, a professor and wildlife health expert at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, wrote in Statin June 2025.

Cautionary measures

To protect the public and limit virus transmission, the public has been barred from the area for the rest of the season. A California State Parks spokesperson said 4,363 tickets for Año Nuevo tours were canceled. Visitors pay $11 each to hike out 1.5-3 kilometers (1-2 miles) with a guide to view the elephant seals during the mid-December through March mating and pupping season.

Since this pathogen is zoonotic and can spread between wildlife, livestock and humans, surveillance extends beyond animals. With each leap to a new mammal host, it raises concern that the virus could more easily infect people. Since 2021, there have been 131 human infections globally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But thus far, it hasn’t spread between humans.

Over the past 50 years or so, zoonotic diseases have emerged and spread at ever-faster rates, facilitated by human conversion of wild habitats and global travel and trade. This allows humans and animals to swap germs that are quickly transported across the globe and shared with species that have no immunity to them. These emerging diseases rarely have a cure and are often fatal. Examples include HIV and Ebola.

Christian Walzer, executive director of health at the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society, called H5N1 “an existential threat to the world’s biodiversity.”

For now, the hope is that this is a small outbreak. “If it’s a cluster, we will figure it out,” said Dominic Travis, the chief programs officer at The Marine Mammal Center. “If it’s perpetuated, it will be really tricky. We will assess it day by day with NOAA.”

The timing of the outbreak may lean in the seals’ favor. “We are cautiously optimistic, as most of the adult females had already departed the beach for their routine migrations before the outbreak began, and most seals on the colony seem healthy,” Beltran said.

This article includes reporting by Sharon Guynup.

Source: This article was published by Mongabay

Citation: Uhart, M., Vanstreels, R. E., Nelson, M. I., Olivera, V., Campagna, J., Zavattieri, V., … Rimondi, A. (2024). Massive outbreak of influenza A H5N1 in elephant seals at peninsula Valdes, Argentina: Increased evidence for mammal-to-mammal transmission. doi:10.1101/2024.05.31.596774

Mongabay

Mongabay is a U.S.-based non-profit conservation and environmental science news platform. Rhett A. Butler founded Mongabay.com in 1999 out of his passion for tropical forests. He called the site Mongabay after an island in Madagascar.

Activists pressure Milan Fashion Week to go fully fur-free


By AFP
March 1, 2026


Anti-fur campaigners are hoping to step up pressure on Milan Fashion Week to ban brands who still use fur. - Copyright AFP Miguel MEDINA

Alexandria SAGE

Animal activists have been turning up the heat on Milan Fashion Week to adopt a fully fur-free policy, with dozens of protesters demonstrating outside the Giorgio Armani show on Sunday.

Although the Armani Group went fur-free a decade ago, activists hope the powerful luxury company can pressure the National Chamber of Italian Fashion (CNMI), which organises fashion week, to disallow brands which use fur from participating.

Sunday’s demonstration was one of several protests carried out this week in Milan by international anti-fur activists organised under the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT).

Behind a barricade and large banner saying “Milan Fashion Week Go Fur-Free”, activists with a megaphone yelled “Shame on you for what you do!” as Armani guests left the show.

Use of fur in the global fashion industry has dramatically fallen in recent years due to concerns about animal cruelty, changing trends and new synthetic alternatives.

But there remain notable holdouts, such as Fendi, owned by French conglomerate LVMH, a storied Italian luxury brand whose roots are in fur.

Pierre-Emmanuel Angeloglou, the chief executive of Fendi, sits on the board of directors of the CNMI along with brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and Ermenegildo Zegna, which have already rejected fur.

Campaigners hope the anti-fur designers can convince Milan Fashion Week to ban fur, as London and New York have done.

Smaller fashion weeks, including in Berlin, Copenhagen and Amsterdam, have also gone fur-free.

“It won’t be Fendi that helps us reach our goal, because they have no interest in pushing this issue forward, but other brands might be able to contribute,” Alberto Bianchi, 25, one of the protest’s organisers, told AFP.

The CNMI did not respond to an AFP request for comment.

– Step forward? –

The activists had demonstrated Wednesday outside Fendi’s Milan headquarters where its runway show took place.

Inside, newly seated designer Maria Grazia Chiuri showed a collection that included “remodelled” furs, or old furs reworked.

Bianchi said that focus on recycling could possibly be seen as “a step forward” but cautioned that LVMH is still actively investing in the use of fur.

“I see it as a one-off move maybe to do a bit of greenwashing,” he said.

“As long as we still have fur farms in Europe and we still have the possibility of importing it, it’s a gesture that doesn’t change the underlying idea,” Bianchi added.

The coalition won a victory in late January when pressure campaigns led to shipping giant DHL and cosmetics company Wella withdrawing as sponsors of Milan Fashion Week.

Later this month, the European Commission is expected to rule on a 2023 citizens’ initiative that called on the EU to ban fur farms and the killing of animals such as mink, foxes, raccoon dogs or chinchillas solely for their pelts.

Activists cite the cruelty inherent in fur farming, in which the animals are crammed into tiny wire battery cages before being gassed or electrocuted.

Milan Fashion Week ends on Monday, with focus now turning to Paris Fashion Week — which similarly does not have an anti-fur policy.

 

H5N1 causes die-off of Antarctic skuas, a seabird

Skua deaths mark first wildlife mortality due to avian flu on Antarctica

University of California - Davis

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Scientists evaluate skua carcasses at Beak Island in Antarctica in March 2024.

view more 

Credit: Ben Wallis

More than 50 skuas in Antarctica died from the high pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 in the summers of 2023 and 2024, marking the first documented die-off of wildlife from the virus on the continent. That is confirmed for the first time in a study led by Erasmus MC in The Netherlands and the University of California, Davis. It published this week in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.

A relative of gulls, skuas are predatory, large brown birds living mostly in polar and subpolar environments. Similar to raptors, they play an important ecological role as scavengers. That role could position them to further spread the virus across Antarctica, the report notes.

Scientists previously detected the virus in a kelp gull and two skuas in Antarctica found dead in January and February 2024. However, avian flu had not been confirmed as the cause of their deaths.

“We knew there were animals with the infection, but this is the first study to show they died of the viral infection,” said co-senior author Ralph Vanstreels, a wildlife veterinarian with the UC Davis One Health Institute within the Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. “It’s an important distinction in the early days of an outbreak.”

Expedition to Antarctica

In March 2024, the authors traveled to Antarctica on a research expedition shortly after the breeding seasons of skuas and penguins. 

They surveyed wildlife at 10 locations in the South Shetland Islands, northern Weddell Sea and Antarctic Peninsula. When they found infected or dead wildlife, they collected tissue samples and environmental samples for analysis and performed necropsies.

The team found and performed post-mortem examinations on carcasses of gentoo penguins, Adélie penguins and Antarctic fur seals, but H5N1 was not diagnosed as the cause of death of those animals.

“As the expedition progressed, it became obvious quickly that skuas were a major victim,” said Vanstreels.

The team detected H5N1 in skuas at three locations – Hope Bay, Devil Island and Beak Island, which experienced a mass die-off of south polar skuas.

“We diagnosed high pathogenicity avian influenza as the cause of death for nearly all of the dead skuas we found at Beak Island,” said first author Matteo Iervolino, a Ph.D. candidate at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. “There, I could really see with my eyes the impact this virus can have on these populations.”

Vanstreels called it a “crisis in animal suffering.” The virus hits the brain, causing neurological symptoms, like a twisted neck or abnormal stretching. The birds swim or walk in circles. Sometimes they stumble blindly into an object or fall out of the air. The authors emphasize that humans are partly responsible for the virus and for preventing its spread.

History and spread of H5N1

H5N1 virus was discovered in 1996 in Southeast China on a domestic goose farm. It went uncontrolled within the poultry industry for several years, during which it spilled over into wild birds and then spread to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and later to North America, South America and, in early 2024, to Antarctica.

The same lineage of virus now affecting Antarctic skuas previously decimated elephant seals and sea lions in Argentina, led to the loss of more than 400 million poultry, and has affected dairy cows, mink, foxes, bears, otters and many other mammals and wild birds.

It can also spread to people. About half of the approximately 1,000 people infected with the virus died.

“We let the virus slip out through our fingers when it first emerged in the poultry industry,” said corresponding senior author Thijs Kuiken, a professor at Erasmus MC. “Once it got into wild bird populations, we lost ability to control this virus. Now it’s established in wild bird populations in all the continental regions of the world except Oceania.”

More surveillance needed to prevent spread

Wildlife in Antarctica already face a harsh environment and many threats, from global warming and increased tourism to invasive species, overfishing and pollution. Avian influenza creates an additional stressor requiring further surveillance and monitoring to help prevent future spillover, the study said.

For example, the last census of skuas in Antarctica was conducted in the 1980s, when scientists counted about 800 breeding pairs. Without an updated accounting of the population, the true impact of 50 skua deaths remains unclear.

“Everything points toward this virus spreading further,” Kuiken said. “If nobody is watching, we won’t know what is happening.”

The HPAI Australis Expedition was funded by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and Ocean Expeditions. The study was funded by the European Union, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and PTI Global Health.

 

---

Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-025-34736-3 

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

The expanding H5N1 avian influenza panzootic causes high mortality of skuas in Antarctica

Article Publication Date

3-Feb-2026

A skua stands with some gentoo penguins in the background in Antarctica.

Credit

Ralph Vanstreels/UC Davis

The research team boarded the Support Vessel S/V Australis in March 2024 to investigate how avian influenza may be impacting wildlife in Antarctica.

Credit

Antonio Alcami/CSIC

The cause of death for nearly all dead skuas found at Beak Island in March 2024 was avian influenza, the research team confirmed.

Credit

Ralph Vanstreels/UC Davis

A researcher conducts an avian autopsy of a dead skua in Antarctica.

Credit

Ralph Vanstreels/UC Davis

A skua perches on a cliff in Antarctica in March 2024.

Credit

Matteo Iervolino/Erasmus MC