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Scientists linked to the Botswana government determined whatand a cyanobacterium was the cause of the death of about 300 elephants in a national park of the country, which was notified in the middle of the year.
The animals were discovered dead in June and, at that time, it had been indicated that the desires were not due to the action of poachers or other local predators.
As detailed by experts, cited by Yahoo News, cyanobacteria have the ability to photosynthesize. These emerge in the water and they are capable of producing toxins, which can poison mammals that come in contact with them.
According to the report by Cyril Taolo, deputy director of the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks, the total number of dead elephants rose to 330, the highest in recent years.
“We still have a lot of questions to answer, including why only the elephant species (was affected), why in the area involved and what could trigger all these changes that we have seen in the area. We have several hypotheses that we are investigating ”, Held.
Without going any further, the manager said that the deaths of these species stopped just in the period of drought in the country, when the puddles where they used to drink water dried up.
“From now on we are going to monitor the situation and devise procedures to avoid more deaths in the next season”, Indian.
It should be noted that the investigations were stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine imposed in that country, so samples had to be sent to other countries.
Botswana has a colony of more than 125,000 copies, being the most important in the entire planet.
Of all that population, 10% would have been affected by that cyanobacterial outbreak, which could be repeated during the next year.
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