Testing confirms spread of deadly H5N1 virus on the subantarctic Heard Island, about 4,000km south-west of Perth

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More than 13,000 seal pups have died on an Australian territory, as testing confirmed the spread of deadly H5N1 bird flu among penguins, seals and petrels on subantarctic islands.

The mass mortality of southern elephant seal pups on Heard Island, about 4,000km south-west of Perth and 1,700km north of Antarctica, was observed by government scientists conducting drone and ground surveys in October 2025 and January 2026.

Another expert says drone technology may have prevented shark attack at Coogee beach on Saturday

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A shark behaviour expert says Tony Abbott “doesn’t understand the science” after the former prime minister called for sharks to be culled in the wake of an attack at a Sydney beach.

Leah Stewart, a 35-year-old woman, was bitten on the leg and arm by what was thought to be a great white shark on Saturday morning.

Two fires in 12 years wiped out all but a handful of the mature native pines in Victoria’s Wyperfeld national park, a key breeding ground for endangered pink cockatoos

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At the entrance to Wyperfeld national park, in north-west Victoria, more than a dozen pink cockatoos are sprinkled across a hedge row of pine trees like Christmas decorations. These are Aleppo pines, not the native conifers that the birds rely on for nesting habitat and as a primary source of food.

Still, the feathered ornaments appear quite content, nestled in among the spruce and ripping into pine cones with their dexterous claws and beaks, making gentle cracking sounds that punctuate the soft roar of Mallee winds.