"It is likely that more than half of the reproductive population died due to the virus. It will take decades before the numbers are back to the 2022 population size," said Valeria Falabella, director of coastal and marine conservation at Argentina's Wildlife Conservation Society.

The sea mammals' population may slowly rebound, but in 2023 mutant bird flu killed an estimated 17,000 elephant seals, including about 97% of their pups, researchers reported Monday in Nature Communications.