A walrus died last summer in Norway’s Svalbard archipelagoin the Arctic, since contracted bird flua Norwegian researcher announced today.

This is the first case of bird flu recorded in these mammals.

A sample taken from the walrus on Hoppen Island was analyzed by a German laboratory and found that the animal had been infected with the virus, said Christian Lindersen, a researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute. The sample was too small to determine whether it was H5N1 or H5N8.

Last year, six dead walruses were found in Svalbard, which is almost a thousand kilometers from the North Pole.

“It is not unlikely that some of them were also infected with bird fluLindersen said.

Walruses, which can weigh up to two tons, feed mainly on molluscs and crustaceans but occasionally eat seabirds.

The researcher emphasized that it is necessary to monitor the situation, as walruses tend to gather in large herds when the ice melts, with the arrival of the summer season. There is also a risk to polar bears if they find and eat a dead, infected walrus, Lindersen noted.

A polar bear has died from bird flu in Alaska, according to US authorities, while hundreds of thousands of marine mammals have died from the virus in South America, according to the Antarctic Scientific Research Commission.