London’s River Thames is teaming with life and has recovered from its biologically dead state since the 1950s. Improved waste systems, stricter environmental regulations, and 393 habitat enhancement projects since 2005 revived the river.
Today, the Thames is packed with well over 100 fish species, as well as visits from dolphins and whales. There are also more than 3,500 seals living in Thames, according to a Zoological Society of London (ZSL) survey, with seals now able to breed in the revived river.
“We were thrilled to count 138 pups born in a single season,” says Thea Cox, Conservation Biologist at ZSL. “The seals would not be able to pup here at all without a reliable food source, so this demonstrates that the Thames ecosystem is thriving and shows just how far we have come since the river was declared biologically dead in the 1950s.”
