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Hundreds of elephants died in Botswana earlier this year from ingesting toxins produced by cyanobacteria, according to government officials who say they will be testing water wells for algal blooms next rainy season to reduce the risk of another death. massive.
The mysterious deaths of 350 elephants in the Okavango Delta between May and June puzzled conservationists, with leading theories suggesting that they were killed by a rodent virus known as EMC (encephalomyocarditis) or toxins from algal blooms.
“Our latest tests have found that cyanobacterial neurotoxins are the cause of deaths. These are bacteria that are found in the water, ”said Mmadi Reuben, chief veterinary officer for Botswana’s department of wildlife and national parks, at a news conference Monday. “However, we still have many questions to answer, such as why only the elephants and why only that area. We have a number of hypotheses that we are investigating. “
Local sources suggest that 70% of the elephants died near water holes that contain algal blooms. Initially, the toxins were ruled out because no other species died except a horse, but scientists now believe that elephants could be particularly susceptible because they spend a lot of time bathing and drinking large amounts of water.
“I hope what the government has said is true because it rules out some of the more sinister things,” said Dr Niall McCann, director of conservation for the UK-based charity National Park Rescue, who initially suggested that the elephants could have been poisoned or died from an unknown pathogen.
In July, the official government tally was 281 deaths, but now it has risen to 330 deaths. Reuben said he would be monitoring the water wells for blooms next rainy season to avoid another death. McCann confirmed that he was working with officials to establish regional early warning systems. “What this requires is the ability to be able to predict when these things will happen,” he said.
Across the border in Zimbabwe, more than 20 dead elephants were found between Hwange National Park and Victoria Falls in August, with concerns the two incidents could be related. Authorities currently believe that this death was caused by a bacterial infection.
One of the leading theories is that it was caused by a strain of a bacteria called pasteurella, which killed 200,000 Saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan in 2015, McCann says. “There are several options. Fortunately, the UK government has collaborated with the Zimbabwe government to export these samples and they will now be tested in the UK, ”he said.
If it’s relatively common, scientists should be able to spot it. “However, new emerging infectious diseases are occurring all the time and the more we investigate the epidemiology, the more we discover that we don’t know. So it could go back to being a complete mystery, ”McCann said.
