A deadly strain of bird flu that arrived in Australia last week is raising alarm among scientists and wildlife officials. The strain — which has already killed hundreds of millions of birds and mammals globally — now puts approximately 100 species of Australia’s uniquely isolated wildlife at risk of mass die-offs. Australia’s geographic isolation had long served as a natural barrier against the H5N1 clade that has devastated bird populations across Europe, the Americas, and Antarctica in recent years. That barrier has now been breached, and the consequences for species found nowhere else on Earth could be severe.
Walter Murrow
June 23, 2026
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