The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Bird flu panic swan was teutonic flotsam

Waterfowl-up!

Cloud based data management

Government vets say the swan found to have died of bird flu in Scotland may have just washed up there from the continent. The genetic signature of the swan's infection matches that of an outbreak in northern Germany.

It's been identified as a whooper swan. Although they winter here, the lack of any other cases has caused experts to say it's more likely the unfortunate fowl died abroad. The BBC reports that the "working hypothesis" in Whitehall is indeed that the swan died elsewhere and was washed up at Cellardyke.

It's taken until now to identify the swan's species because it was badly decomposed and lacked a head.

Looks like the Queen's own British mute swans (she also owns all the dolphins and sturgeon, apparently) are still unscathed. Stiff upper beak, lads. ®

SaaS data loss: The problem you didn’t know you had

More from The Register

New material enables 1,000-meter super-skyscrapers
Before you read on, see if you can guess how the new stuff will be used
Boffins build headless robo-kitties
Soft kitty, warm kitty, cuddly little ball of wire kitty
 breaking news
Latest NASA ASTRONAUT class is HALF FEMALE
Newbie 'nauts include lady Marine fighter pilot, male doctor
 breaking news
You've seen the Large Hadron Collider. Now comes the HUGE Hadron Collider
International Linear Collider ready to rock and roll
Boffins find evidence Atlantic Ocean has started closing
'Embryonic subduction zone' that flattened Lisbon headed for Blighty
Google launches broadband balloons, radio astronomy frets
A careless Loon could blind the square kilometre array
Hubble spies unlikely planet being born in hostile neighborhood
Hoovering a cloud of sand 7.5 billion miles from a tiny star
 breaking news
Jaguar to open new car-making factory in Blighty (virtually)
Britain still makes stuff, it's just not real any more...
 breaking news
Spin doctors brazenly fiddle with tiny bits in front of the neighbours
Quantum computer address bus just nanometres wide
 breaking news
China's second woman 'naut blasts off for coupling in HEAVEN
Wang and pals test the cosmic waters for Chinese space station