Scientists who recently travelled to Heard Island in the Southern Ocean fear a deadly strain of bird flu, H5N1, may be infecting wildlife after observing unusually high mortality among elephant seals on the volcanic island.

Warning: this story contains graphic images of carcasses.

Samples taken from the seals have been carefully packaged aboard the RSV Nuyina and will be tested on the ship's return to the mainland.

Is the strain of bird flu in Australia?

Australia is the only continent free of H5N1 but has been on high alert for its potential arrival, particularly given the devastating effects the disease has had on both wildlife and domestic animals in other countries.

The strain first emerged in 1996 in Asia and appeared in other parts of the world in the decades that followed, bu

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