First birds, now mammals: how H5N1 is killing thousands of sea lions in Peru

Scientists and vets from Peru’s national parks agency take samples from a dead sea lion washed up on a beach. Photograph: Peru national parks and protected areas service

At first, it appears to be dead. Its head lies in the sand, and a small tide pool has formed around it. Its shoulder blades jut out and its coffee and beige pelt hangs loosely on protruding vertebrae that taper down to its long tail flippers.

But the young male sea lion is still alive. Its round wet eyes blink and occasionally it tries to move, rolling over or lifting its head, as the flooding tide inches it up the beach in Chepeconde, about 75 miles south of Peru’s coastal capital, Lima.