scientists named the reason — Science and IT
In 2020, more than 350 elephants died in Botswana.
The first cases were recorded in May 2020, and by July the number of dead animals had reached shocking proportions. Veterinarians immediately ruled out infections or poaching, but could not establish the real cause.
This was reported by ScienceAlert.
It turned out that the only real cause could be poisoning by toxic cyanobacteria – blue-green algae.
A new study by King's College London has confirmed that outbreaks of toxic algae in the waters near the Okavango Delta have caused elephant deaths. A study of satellite data showed that these algae formed toxic blooms during the mass die-off. The analysis of the collected data revealed a high level of algae in the water sources where the corpses of the elephants were found, which probably poisoned…
