To prevent the next pandemic, pinpoint it at the source. That’s the idea behind PREDICT, a global surveillance program that has spent almost 10 years hunting for new viruses that could spill over from vulnerable wildlife to humans.
In May, two critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals were found dead on a beach on Oahu. Both were female, and one was pregnant. After performing a necropsy, veterinarians determined that both animals died of toxoplasmosis, a potentially fatal disease that originates in domestic cats.
For the last three years, not one calf has been born to the dwindling pods of black-and-white killer whales spouting geysers of mist off the coast in the Pacific Northwest. Their population decline is alarming and may be due to several factors.
