It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
'Homecoming': Critically endangered antelopes returned to Kenyan forests from Czech zoo
Four mountain bongos have arrived in Kenya after being returned from a Czech zoo in a bid to bolster numbers of the critically endangered species of which there are less that 100 left in the wild. Kenyan officials hailed the return as a “homecoming of the majestic bongos".
Four critically endangered mountain bongos arrived in Kenya on their way to their native forests after years in the care of a zoo in the Czech Republic.
Bongos, rare antelopes known for their striking stripes, have been declared critically endangered due to poaching and diseases. There are less than 100 mountain bongos left in the wild, according to the Kenyan government. Many were sent to Europe in the 1980s after a major rinderpest disease outbreak killed thousands.
The four returnees arrived from Dvur Kralove Zoo packed in wooden crates at Kenya’s main airport aboard a KLM cargo flight and were received by the country’s Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Tourism Minister Rebecca Miano, who hailed it as a “homecoming of the majestic bongos”.
It's the third such return in recent years, last one being in February 2025. After a period of quarantine and acclimatization, the bongos will be sent to the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy, which houses 102 bongos, for a stay before being released into the wild.
The conservancy runs a National Recovery and Action Plan for the Mountain Bongo in collaboration with the government and plans to use the four new bongos to interbreed and strengthen the gene pool.
Kenyan-raised nature explorers and filmmakers Jahawi and Elke Bertolli told The Associated Press that the new bongos will bring genetic variation that is critical for their conservation, adding that the species plays a key role in protecting the forests that are vital to Kenya’s water supply.
Czech Republic Ambassador Nicol Adamcova said the relocation reflects a long-standing partnership between the Czech Republic and Kenya in conservation and a shared commitment to protecting endangered species.
Mudavadi said such milestones show what can be achieved when policy, science, and collaboration come together in pursuit of a shared conservation goal.
“I commend all stakeholders involved and assure you of Government’s unwavering support in strengthening conservation frameworks and ensuring that Kenya’s biodiversity continues to thrive,” he said.
Miano said that bringing in genetically diverse bongos is a critical step to strengthen the species' breeding resilience.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
Monday, April 20, 2026
Elephant genomes reveal a past of continental connectivity and a future of increasing isolation
Elephants in Rwanda. In the largest genomic study of African elephants to date, an international team of researchers analysed 232 whole genomes from both savanna and forest elephants, collected across 17 African countries.
In the largest genomic mapping of Africa's elephants, an international team of researchers shows that elephant history is defined by the ability to move across large distances and exchange genes throughout the African continent. But as the elephants’ living space is becoming increasingly patchy, the study documents the visible genetic consequences of isolation – and points to approaches that help to incorporate genomics into current and future elephant conservation.
In the largest genomic study of African elephants to date, an international team of researchers analysed 232 whole genomes from both savanna and forest elephants, collected across 17 African countries. This is the first large-scale, continent-wide genetic study since African elephants were recognized as two separate species. To achieve this herculean task, the researchers used samples that have been biobanked during previous genetic research more than 30 years ago and generated high-quality genomes through the iConserve program of the biotechnology company Illumina.
The results, which are now published in Nature Communications, show genetic signs of isolation in several populations, where elephant herds have been cut off from each other due to a history of hunting, as well as growing human populations and their needs for agriculture and infrastructural developments.
"Our study shows that until recently, elephants have been connected across vast distances. This freedom of movement has created genetic robustness because the populations have intermingled. Today, the picture is different. Elephants are living in a world where space is more and more restricted and some populations are becoming isolated," says the study’s lead author, Assistant Professor Patrícia Pečnerová of the University of Copenhagen and Lund University.
Remote areas are worst affected
Two remote areas in north-eastern Africa, in Eritrea and Ethiopia, are home to elephant populations that are small in number and quite isolated. The elephants there are more than 400 kilometres away from other populations and are enclosed by human settlements and agricultural areas. Here, researchers found a high degree of inbreeding, low genetic variation, and an accumulation of mildly deleterious mutations, which make them more vulnerable to changes in the environment and diseases.
A similar, but more nuanced pattern emerges in West Africa, where high human population densities and a long history of the ivory trade have also isolated and reduced elephant populations. Contrary to expectations, savanna elephants in west-central Africa do not show the same loss of genetic variation seen in the isolated populations in Eritrea and Ethiopia. While they are similarly inbred due to past bottlenecks and isolation, the impact on genetic variation is partly masked because forest elephant genes flowed into these populations through interspecies hybridization.
Savanna and forest elephants are known to hybridize in a small number of locations where their habitats meet. Surprisingly, this study also found that even savanna elephants far from the hybrid zone carry trace amounts of forest elephant ancestry. Whether this reflects a different position of the hybrid zone in the past or forest genes being carried across the continent by the movement of elephants, remains unclear. Yet, it highlights that while genetic exchange has been fundamental within species, it also has occurred between the two African elephant species.
However, when it comes to implications for conservation, Professor Alfred Roca of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a senior author of the study, calls for caution:
“By reconstructing their genomic history, we found that savanna and forest elephants followed very different population trajectories over the last four million years, with over 85% of overall elephant genetic variation due to the differences between them. Given this history, gene flow between the species is unlikely to be beneficial, and hybrid elephants should be avoided for translocations. Among savanna elephant populations, historically high connectivity across their range limited regional differentiation. However, there were sufficient genetic differences across southern, eastern and west-central Africa to suggest that translocations across regions should be avoided.”
We must protect both landscapes and animals
The patterns of gene flow revealed in this study are ultimately shaped by one thing: the ability of elephants to move across landscapes. Today, the positive effect of preserving elephant movement by protecting the landscape is quite evident in southern Africa in the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area – also called the KAZA region, which spans five Southern African countries and covers an area of 520,000 square kilometres in one of the world's largest nature reserves. Here, the elephants are genetically diverse because the populations are closely connected and can exchange genes.
Patrícia Pečnerová, who is also a National Geographic Explorer and a Branco Weiss Fellow, explains: "Elephants are extremely intelligent animals that can live close to humans and adapt. But one of the most important forces for their evolution is that genes can move between populations. In southern Africa, the landscape still allows movement between protected areas, and here we see that the genetic health of the elephants remains relatively intact."
Without ecological corridors and international coordination between countries and nature management authorities, even protected populations risk becoming weakened by genetic isolation. The highways of the animal kingdom are vanishing—once-open landscapes that allowed elephants to move, connect, and exchange genes are becoming increasingly fragmented. To ensure the long-term survival of elephants, we need to protect more than just the animals. We need to protect the landscapes and the connections between them.
“This study reminds us that we cannot understand or conserve elephants without knowing their history, and that they have always been in flux, especially in response to human impacts and climate change. The finding that recent and ancient hybridisation between the two species extends over such a large part of both species’ range is particularly interesting,” says co-author Chris Thouless, Director of Conservation at Save the Elephants and Director of the Elephant Crisis Fund. He adds: “The evidence of inbreeding in isolated and depleted savanna elephant populations is a matter of concern, especially since the samples on which this study is based date from before the recent period of intense poaching for ivory.”
The comprehensive genomic atlas not only provides new knowledge about the elephants' past and movements, but is also an operational tool for the authorities working to protect them. Along with making all data publicly available for future research and conservation efforts, the researchers behind the project and partners from Save the Elephants and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance are developing DNA tools that can be used on site to monitor wild elephant populations.
“Our findings provide important insights into the genetic health and connectivity of elephant populations on the African continent. By identifying distinct population units and levels of gene flow, this research can guide more effective conservation strategies, including habitat management, corridor protection, and translocation decisions. In addition, genomic tools and data that we have generated can support wildlife forensics by helping to trace the origin of confiscated ivory, thereby strengthening efforts to combat illegal wildlife trade. Looking ahead, this work contributes to a growing body of knowledge that will inform conservation not only in Uganda but across Africa. By integrating genomics into conservation education and planning, we can better safeguard elephant populations for future generations, ensuring their ecological role and long-term survival in rapidly changing environments” say co-authors Charles Masembe and Vincent Muwanika, both Professors at Makerere University in Uganda.
Main results of the study:
• 232 whole genomes from elephants in 17 African countries have been analysed – the largest genomic mapping of African elephants to date.
• African forest and savanna elephants have followed different evolutionary trajectories for millions of years.
• There is both older and more recent hybridisation between the species.
• Even savanna elephants outside of the hybrid zone carry small traces of forest elephant ancestry.
• Isolated peripheral populations (e.g., Eritrea and Ethiopia) show clear signs of inbreeding, lowered genetic variation, and an increased load of mildly deleterious mutations.
• West African populations have high inbreeding due to the long history of isolation, but savanna elephants in west-central Africa have surprisingly high levels of genetic variation due to hybridisation with forest elephants.
• While differentiation among savanna elephants across southern, eastern, and north-central Africa has been limited by historical gene flow, the differences that do exist suggest that translocations across regions should be avoided.
• Large contiguous natural areas in southern Africa show that the genetic health of the populations is maintained by the high genetic connectivity.
• Forest elephants have higher genetic variation with fewer potentially harmful mutations than savanna elephants, giving hope for their short-term survival despite their ongoing steep decline.
• The genomic resources will enable monitoring of elephant populations in the field
This research was supported by the iConserve program of Illumina, Inc., the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service African Elephant Conservation Fund, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program, and other personal awards.
Elephants in Rwanda. In the largest genomic study of African elephants to date, an international team of researchers analysed 232 whole genomes from both savanna and forest elephants, collected across 17 African countries.
This week, Science Advances will publish a new study on climate adaptation in the Pacific pocket mouse—North America’s most endangered mouse. The research highlights a major challenge for endangered species, as many lack the genetic diversity needed to survive changing climates.
Once thought extinct before being rediscovered in 1994, the Pacific pocket mouse faces significant threats from habitat loss and climate change. Researchers analyzed the genomes of these mice, collected over the past century, and identified 14 genes associated with adaptation to temperature and moisture. They then tracked these genes in a population reintroduced to the wild from a conservation breeding program. The genetic variation in these climate-associated genes shifted as predicted for the new environment, suggesting that adaptation to changing climates is ongoing.
Beyond its implications for the Pacific pocket mouse, this research provides a broader framework for how conservation programs can support endangered species as climates continue to change.
An embargoed manuscript and interviews are available. Visuals can be found here. Embargo will lift at 2:00 pm U.S. Eastern Time Friday, April 17, 2026.
Journal
Science Advances
Method of Research
Observational study
Article Title
Historical and contemporary genomes of an endangered rodent reveal shifts in environmentally associated genes
The author of the Foreword of this book, Dr. Fozia Alvi, had worked with the survivors of genocide before, bringing medical aid to the Rohingya refugees. But nothing prepared him for what he found in Gaza: “the heart-wrenching reality of encountering so many children— innocent lives shattered with shrapnel and bullet wounds. I witnessed a generation of amputees, children robbed of their childhood and broken in unmendable ways. I saw mothers consumed with grief, unsure of which of their children to mourn—the ones killed, the ones clinging to life, or the ones left broken, with limbs torn away.”
The journal he introduces was written by Dr. Salman Khalid during his 29-day deployment at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital: “no other physician has so thoroughly documented the personal and medical toll of this genocide.”
In August 2024, Emergency Physician Salman Khalid left Canada, his wife and three children to work in Gaza as part of an international team. Crossing into Gaza, “all one could see was miles and miles of ash-coloured, bullet-riddled, crumbled buildings.”
Once he begins work, the stories are heart-breaking. One of his first patients was “a four-year-old boy, who was the size of my two-year-old daughter. His home in the designated humanitarian safe zone was bombed today.” He showed signs of severe brain injury and impending brain death but the overwhelmed staff were unable to place him on oxygen or a cardiac monitor. Gaza has only one-third of the medical residents it had before October 2023.
The next day at 4am, an Apache helicopter fires three missiles into the tents inside the hospital grounds killing four people, 100 metres from where Khalid is sleeping. This was despite the IDF having marked this as a safe humanitarian zone.
Another injured family is brought in; the woman dies. “I found myself imagining how this man would feel when he wakes up to realize that he is missing a leg, his son will have to defecate in a bag for potentially his entire life, and his wife and mother of his child is dead. If I was in Canada, this shift would rank among the most difficult of my entire career, but it seems like this will be just another day in Gaza.”
A few days later he and his colleagues spend over two hours trying – unsuccessfully – to resuscitate a nine-year-old boy, with a blast injury to the head and chest, whose father, an ER nurse, is assisting in the process. Other children come in with shrapnel embedded over their entire skin like tiny razor blades, or horrific burns. Khalid’s anger gives way to exhaustion.
Khalid describes the ER at Al Aqsa Hospital as “absolute chaos. It is a zoo, a madhouse.” It treats between 1,000 and 1,200 patients per day, in an area that is less than half of his ER’s size back home, which treats between 150 and 250 patients per day. There is no sterility, no air conditioning and the room is crowded with patients and relatives. Tensions between staff, the intrusive media and family members sometimes escalate into brawls.
“There are patients everywhere in the hospital. Rooms are full. Patients are laying on small mattresses they brought from home in hallways, stairwells, lobbies, outside administrative offices… pretty much anywhere there is open floor space.”
What is most distressing in this account is the sheer number of child victims. Khalid reminds us that half of the 2 million people in Gaza are children, so every time the Israelis bomb, half the victims are likely be children. It feels, he says, like killing just for the sake of killing – pointless, cruel torture.
Day 24: “Another 4am bombing of the Nuseirat camp brought mass casualties to our door… Around 1:30pm, we received another wave of casualties from an airstrike at Al-Shati camp.” Most cases Khalid describes in medical detail, but some arrive already taking their final breaths. Others die because of lack of functioning equipment -replacements are refused entry into Gaza by the Israeli authorities.
The following day, wave after wave of casualties arrive. “Of the patients with critical, life-threatening and catastrophic injuries today, half were children… Just when we thought we had things sort of under control, a fresh pile of bodies was dropped to the Red Zone floor with a crowd of more than 20 people trying to figure out who had the most immediately life-threatening injuries in all the chaos.” Yet despite this being Khalid’s worst day so far, other staff tell him that this is barely 30 percent of what they were experiencing just a few months earlier.
There are uplifting moments – but not many. The sheer misery of the situation is deeply affecting. Alongside the new trauma cases, there are patients with massive bed sores, the smell of vomit and necrotic flesh and malnourished patients, particularly children, who appear to be three to four years younger than their actual age. Khalid notes that he’s seen more amputees at this hospital in a single day than he has in his entire career.
As he prepares to leave, Khalid asks a 26-year old colleague what message he should take k to people back home. His answer is shockingly direct: “Don’t worry about us; we have one test and that is to be patient. You have many tests that you have to overcome: greed, free time, and all of your privilege in the West that has caused you to be lazy about fighting for justice. Don’t worry about us. Fix yourselves first.”
Khalid draws a similar conclusion at the end of his stay: “The only difference between September 3rd and today is that on September 3rd I thought the world was still watching, but today I know that no one is.”
Salman Khalid was not obliged to go to Gaza. As he says, “I have no Palestinian blood coursing through my veins.” But, as many who have boarded flotillas to break the siege of Gaza or taken other direct action to help the Palestinian people would understand, he adds: “I believe it is a litmus test for all of us who live in the West. Do we really stand for human rights for all people, or only a select few?” It’s as simple as that.
Not everyone can be an emergency physician in a war-ravaged hospital. But they can speak out, be careful of whose products they buy, write letters and sign petitions, donate.
With the Middle East war ever-widening and the Israeli barbarities in Gaza increasingly rendered acceptable by a complacent media, the plight of the Palestinians is in danger of slipping down the news agenda. Israel’s ‘ceasefire’ in Gaza appears increasingly to be a branding exercise crafted for international opinion: meanwhile, the war crimes continue.
Lat month, United Nations human rights experts highlighted the case of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian physician and hospital director who has been imprisoned for more than 450 days and reportedly tortured by his captors.
There is more first-hand testimony from Gaza surgeons available to Western readers. Bleak though this reading may be, it is vital first-hand material that reminds us that the majority of the victims of the indiscriminate carnage unleashed by Israel have no ideology or involvement in the conflict. This war on the innocent must never be normalised.
Mike Phipps’ book Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: The Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn (OR Books, 2022) can be ordered here.
Thursday, April 16, 2026
World's oldest gorilla celebrates birthday at Berlin Zoo
Lady Fatou, known as the "grand dame" of the Berlin Zoo, was certified last year by Guinness as the oldest living gorilla in the world.
When you're a 69-year-old gorilla, you get vegetables as a birthday gift
Image: Markus Schreiber/AP Photo/picture alliance
At 69 years old, Lady Fatou on Monday became not only the Berlin Zoo's longest-residing tenant but also maintained her title as the oldest gorilla in the world.
Born somewhere in West Africa in 1957, she arrived in Europe at the port of Marseilles in 1959 in the luggage of a French sailor. According to the Berlin Zoo, the sailor found himself unable to pay his bill at a tavern and gave Fatou to the landlady as payment. From there, she soon ended up in the German capital.
Fatou is a western lowland gorilla. In the wild they usually don't live past their 40s, and even in captivity 50 is considered advanced old age.
In 1974 she gave birth to Dufte, the first gorilla born at the Berlin Zoo. Although her daughter passed away in 2001, Fatou's granddaugther M'penzi still keeps her company in Berlin. She has at least three great-great-great grandchildren as of 2026.
Fatou's favorite foods are usually pre-cooked, as the grand dame no longer has teeth
Image: Markus Schreiber/AP Photo/picture alliance
"We are very proud to have been able to accommodate an animal with us now for more than half a century. We are pleased that Fatou is in such good health despite her age," zoo director Andreas Knieriem said on one of her previous birthdays.
Nowadays, Fatou has her own private enclosure and staff members dedicated solely to her care. She prefers to sit back and watch the other gorillas play rather than get involved in the action, zoo workers say. Edited by: Louis Oelofse
Critically endangered Borneo orangutan born at Madrid zoo
A Borneo orangutan in the Madrid Zoo Aquarium gave birth in early April to a healthy baby, the zoo said. Habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade have severely curtailed the number of these gentle primates living in the wild.
A critically endangered Borneo orangutan has been born at Madrid's zoo, described by keepers as strong and developing normally.
After an eight-and-a-half-month pregnancy, mother Surya gave birth to a male weighing about 1.5 kilos on April 2, the Madrid Zoo Aquarium said in a statement.
The zoo released a video showing Surya cradling the newborn, which will be named through a public vote from a list of options proposed by the caretakers.
Surya has now given birth to four offspring, with keepers describing her maternal care from the outset as exemplary, and the baby feeding regularly, a key indicator of healthy development.
"When the baby is nursing, everything stops. She stays completely still until he finishes, and only then moves to eat or do anything else. She is a real supermom," said Maica Espinosa, a primate keeper at the zoo.
Orangutans usually give birth to a single baby or occasionally twins. They give birth, at the most, once every six years, and the interval between babies can be as long as 10 years.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies Bornean orangutans – known for their dark brown fur and gentle temperament – as "critically endangered", citing rapid habitat loss and illegal wildlife trade as major threats.
The species lives in the wild only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and on the island of Borneo, which is divided among Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Colombia to cull dozens of Escobar's hippos in bid to halt population explosion
The origins of the problem trace back to drug lord Pablo Escobar himself, who in the 1980s smuggled four hippos into his private zoo at his Hacienda Nápoles estate in the Magdalena Medio. / unsplashFacebook
Colombia will begin euthanising dozens of invasive hippopotamuses in the second half of 2026 as authorities move to contain a rapidly expanding population descended from animals illegally imported by drug trafficker Pablo Escobar four decades ago, Environment Minister Irene Vélez has announced.
The country is home to around 200 hippos, concentrated in the river valleys surrounding the Magdalena, Colombia's main inland waterway. Authorities warn the population could reach 1,000 by 2035 without intervention, a trajectory that scientists say would accelerate damage to native biodiversity and compound water contamination across river systems vital to agriculture and rural livelihoods.
"We must act to reduce the hippopotamus population. These actions are essential to protect our ecosystems and our native species," Vélez said, adding that approximately 80 animals could be euthanised in the initial phase of the programme.
The cull, budgeted at COP7.2bn (around $2mn), marks the most decisive state action yet on a problem that has confounded successive Colombian governments for more than a decade. It includes complementary measures such as confinement and relocation, and comes after a September 2024 ruling by the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca ordered the environment ministry to draw up regulations aimed at eradicating the species within three months — a deadline authorities failed to meet.
The origins of the problem trace back to Escobar himself, who in the 1980s smuggled four hippos into his private zoo at his Hacienda Nápoles estate in the Magdalena Medio. After the drug lord was killed by security forces in 1993 and his ranch was ransacked, the animals escaped into the surrounding forest and began reproducing unchecked. With no natural predators in the Colombian savannah, the population expanded exponentially.
Efforts to bring the animals under control have repeatedly faltered. A government attempt to cull a single hippo in 2009 triggered a public backlash, and hunting was formally banned in 2012.
Hipppos were officially declared an invasive alien species in 2022 due to their negative impacts on ecosystems. Sterilisation and translocation programmes have moved slowly: discussions with eight potential recipient countries — including India, Mexico and South Africa — have yet to yield binding agreements, partly because genetic inbreeding within the Colombian population has reduced interest from foreign zoos and wildlife institutions.
The expansion poses escalating risks to species including river turtles and manatees, while the animals' volume of excrement is altering the chemical composition of local watercourses. "They can really pollute water resources. They're an invasive species. They don't really belong there," Joshua Hammer, a journalist who investigated the case for Smithsonian Magazine, noted in 2024. "It's rapidly changing the biome and possibly threatening these other animals."
Although hippos kill hundreds of people annually in Africa, Colombia has so far recorded no fatalities, though confrontations with fishermen have been reported along the Magdalena.
The announcement has reignited a long-running dispute between conservation scientists and animal rights advocates. The former broadly support culling as a necessary, if unpalatable, population management tool; the latter argue the crisis reflects decades of policy failure and raises unresolved questions about the ethics of lethal control.
Colombia remains the only country outside Africa with a free-roaming wild hippo population, an unlikely legacy of Escobar's private menagerie that has evolved from a local curiosity into a national ecological and fiscal liability.
Thursday, April 09, 2026
Penguin ‘toxicologists’ find PFAS chemicals in remote Patagonia
Study shows non-invasive way animals can help monitor their environment
Magellanic penguins in Argentina served as sentinels of their own environment by wearing chemical-detecting leg bands for a few days during their breeding season in a UC Davis and SUNY-Buffalo study.
Penguins living along the Patagonian coast of Argentina can serve as living monitors of their environment by using small, chemical-detecting leg bands, according to a study from the University of California, Davis, and the State University of New York at Buffalo.
For the proof-of-concept study, published in the journal Earth: Environmental Sustainability, UC Davis scientists outfitted 54 Magellanic penguins with silicone passive samplers placed gently around their legs for a few days during the 2022-24 breeding seasons. The sensors safely absorbed chemicals from the water, air and surfaces the penguins encountered while the unwitting “toxicologists” foraged to feed their chicks.
Once retrieved, the samplers were sent to University at Buffalo-SUNY for testing, which revealed that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — often called “forever chemicals” — were detected in more than 90% of the bands, even in this remote region.
“The only way we’ve had of measuring pollutant exposure in the past is by getting blood samples or feathers,” said co-corresponding author Ralph Vanstreels, a wildlife veterinarian with the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center within the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. “It’s exciting to have something that is only minimally invasive. The penguins are choosing the sample sites for us and letting us know where it’s important to monitor more deeply. As the animals go about their business, they’re telling us a lot about the environment they’re experiencing.”
Testing revealed a mixture of older legacy pollutants, as well as chemicals that replaced phased-out PFAS.
“By using a non‑invasive sampling approach, we were able to detect a shift from legacy PFAS to newer replacement chemicals in the penguins’ environment over time,” said senior author Diana Aga, a SUNY distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry at University at Buffalo. “The presence of GenX and other replacement PFAS — chemicals typically associated with nearby industrial sources — shows that these compounds are not staying local but are reaching even the most remote ecosystems. This raises important concerns that newer PFAS, despite being designed as safer alternatives, are still persistent enough to spread globally and pose exposure risks to wildlife.”
Chemicals and conservation
The study provides an efficient, practical means of tracking the locations and times of chemical exposure, particularly in hard-to-sample aquatic environments. The authors envision the method being used to identify pollution exposure from oil spills, shipwrecks and other industrial sources.
“Moving forward, we’d like to increase our environmental detectives by expanding to different species,” Vanstreels said, adding that they next plan to test the method on cormorants, which can dive to depths of more than 250 feet.
“By turning penguins into sentinels of their environment, we have a powerful new way to communicate issues relevant for wildlife health and more broadly for the conservation of marine species and our oceans,” said coauthor Marcela Uhart, director of the Latin America Program within the UC Davis Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center.
Additional coauthors include first author Paige Montgomery and Katarzyna Kordas from University at Buffalo-SUNY; and Luciana Gallo, Gabriela Blanco and Flavio Quintana from Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasin Argentina (CONICET).
Penguins as Sentinel Species for Monitoring Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): Evaluation of Silicone Passive Samplers as a Non-Invasive Tool
A chemical-sensing, silicone passive sampler is worn as an ankle band on this penguin in Argentina.
An adult Magellanic penguin stands with its chick during breeding season in Argentina.
Researchers deploy a chemical-sensing ankle band on a Magellanic penguin in Argentina.
Close-up of a chemical-sensing ankle band, or silicone passive sampler, on a penguin.
Magellanic penguins, like this one in Argentina, showed that penguins can help monitor their own environments by wearing small, retrievable leg bands that collect information about pollution they encounter.
Credit
Ralph Vanstreels/UC Davis
Study links PFAS exposure to weaker immune response, underscoring need for water protections
PFAS are found in drinking water, food packaging and everyday household products.
Exposure is widespread across the United States.
The immune system is one of the most sensitive targets of PFAS exposure.
This study suggests those effects may persist into adulthood — not just childhood.
Findings reinforce the importance of strong drinking water standards and reducing exposure.
EAST LANSING, Mich. – New research finds that exposure to PFAS may weaken the immune system in adults, raising new concerns about the long-term health effects of these widely used chemicals.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a large class of human-made chemicals used in products ranging from nonstick cookware and stain-resistant fabrics to firefighting foams. Often called “forever chemicals,” they do not easily break down in the environment and can accumulate in the human body over time.
Some PFAS remain in the body for years. One compound highlighted in the study, perfluorohexanesulfonic acid, or PFHxS, can persist for nearly a decade, making it a particularly important marker of long-term exposure.
In a study of people previously exposed to PFAS through contaminated drinking water, researchers found that individuals with higher levels of the forever chemicals in their blood produced fewer protective antibodies when their immune systems encountered a new virus — a key measure of how effectively the body responds to infection.
“Antibodies act like tiny soldiers, helping the body recognize and fight off viruses,” said Courtney Carignan, senior author of the study and an environmental health researcher at Michigan State University.
When fewer of these “soldiers” are produced, the immune system may be less effective at fighting infection.
“These results raise important concerns about how long-term exposure to PFAS reduces the body’s ability to respond to infections, even in adulthood,” Carignan said.
The effect was strongest among older adults, men and people who were overweight — groups that often have higher PFAS levels in their bodies.
For some families, those effects are already a reality.
“When you find out your family has been exposed, it changes everything — especially how you think about your children’s health,” said Tobyn McNaughton, a Belmont, Michigan, mother whose family was affected by contaminated drinking water. “We’re poisoned people. We learned that some of my son’s childhood vaccines weren’t fully effective due to his compromised immune system, and that’s something no parent expects to face.”
McNaughton connected with Carignan in 2018 after high levels of PFAS were found in her family’s drinking water and has since become a clean water advocate with the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network, a group co-founded by her neighbor Sandy Wynn-Stelt that is centered and driven by people impacted by toxic PFAS pollution.
Carignan said McNaughton’s and others’ experiences reflect broader patterns seen in the data.
“Previous studies in adults have produced mixed results, in part because prior exposures and existing immunity can make responses difficult to isolate,” Carignan said. “The pandemic provided a rare opportunity to observe how the immune system responds to a new virus, allowing us to more clearly detect how PFAS exposure may influence antibody production and helping resolve long-standing uncertainty about its effects in adults. Our findings make clear that PFAS exposure can affect immune response in adults in addition to the known effects in children.”
The findings come as the United States continues to debate and implement new drinking water standards for PFAS. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized its first enforceable drinking water standards for certain PFAS chemicals in 2024, but implementation timelines and enforcement for some compounds have since shifted.
Carignan said the findings support efforts to reduce PFAS exposure — particularly through drinking water — and highlight the importance of continued monitoring and regulation.
“Exposure to PFAS is widespread, but it is also preventable,” Carignan said. “Reducing levels in drinking water is one of the most effective ways to lower exposure and protect public health.”
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Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for more than 170 years. Among the world’s top 100 universities and a leading U.S. public research institution, MSU pushes the limits of discovery and innovation to advance the state of Michigan and the nation, and make a better, safer, healthier world for all. The university provides life-changing educational opportunities through an inclusive academic community with more than 400 programs of study and is the largest producer of talent for Michigan, educating more undergraduates than any other university in the state.
For generations, Spartans have been changing the world through research. Federal funding helps power many of the discoveries that improve lives and keep America at the forefront of innovation and competitiveness. From lifesaving cancer treatments to solutions that advance technology, agriculture, energy and more, MSU researchers work every day to shape a better future for the people of Michigan and beyond. Learn more about MSU’s research impact powered by partnership with the federal government.
