Biologists were able to determine the true cause of the mass death of thousands of Adélie penguins, as well as a small number of other birds and mammals, that occurred on D'Ingger Islands. These islands are located near the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula, and the incident took place in early 2024.
Initially, researchers hypothesized that the birds might have been victims of highly pathogenic avian influenza, which appeared in Antarctica several months ago. However, the analysis conducted showed otherwise: the mass mortality was caused by an outbreak of a bacterial infection known as pasteurelosis or avian cholera.
Unlike avian influenza, this type of infection has long been present in the Antarctic ecosystem. The results of this scientific study were officially published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.