Botswana:-The sudden deaths of 330 elephants in Botswana earlier this year may have occurred because they drank water contaminated by toxic blue-green algae. The elephants in the Seronga area died from a neurological disorder that appears to have been caused by drinking water contain a toxic bloom of cyanobacterium in water sources in the region. No other wildlife species were affected by the toxic water in the Seronga area, close to Botswana’s famed Okavango Delta.
The scavengers, like hyenas and vultures, observed feeding on the elephant carcasses showed no signs of illness. With an estimated 130,000 elephants, Botswana has the world’s largest population of the pachyderms which attracts international tourists. The mysterious deaths of the elephants in the Seronga area, the government conducted extensive tests to determine the cause of the fatalities. Both male and female elephants of all ages died, with clinical signs limited to neurologic symptoms. The deaths happened mainly near seasonal water pans and did not spread beyond the initially affected region. The characteristics and the field, clinical, postmortem, histopathological, and laboratory findings suggest the elephants died from neurotoxic cyanobacterium (blue-green alga) toxicosis associated with a toxic bloom of cyanobacterium in seasonal pans in the region.
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