As of March, about 330 dead elephants were found in and around Okongo, the initial assumption that the elephants were killed by poachers was disproved since the elephants were not robbed. A second assumption was that the death was caused by the anthrax virus, but it turned out that this was not the cause of death either, other animals were not harmed. The authorities investigated the deaths and apparently found the culprit, Cyanobacteria
In the countries of southern Africa: Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and especially Botswana, there is the largest concentration of African elephants, with Botswana at the top of the list considered a paradise for elephants with about 130 thousand elephants. Many of the elephants live in one of the most beautiful deserts in the world, the Okavango.
As of March, about 330 dead elephants were found in and around Okongo, the initial assumption that the elephants were killed by poachers was disproved since the elephants were not robbed. A second assumption was that the death was caused by the anthrax virus, but it turned out that this was not the cause of death either, other animals were not harmed. The authorities investigated the deaths and apparently found the culprit, Cyanobacteria.
The cyanobacteria are species of algae that live in water reservoirs and among them are also toxic species. According to Botswana's "Wildlife and National Parks Division" "for an unknown reason, toxic cyanobacterial algae have recently multiplied in seasonal reservoirs". Maybe because of global warming.
It was the toxic algae that multiplied that caused the mass death of elephants, species of algae that are toxic to animals and fish, but it is not clear why other species were not affected. It is possible that the reason is in the drinking habits of elephants who regularly visit seasonal puddles where the algae grew, puddles that other animals do not visit.
Starting in July, the deaths stopped, probably because of the drying up of the seasonal puddles. Southern Africa is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, which scientists say is fueling the growth of toxic algae. After all, we have another facet to the damage caused by global warming.
- Editor's note - I would appreciate a photo allowed in terms of copyright from the event described in the article itself.
One response
We are in the midst of an extinction process that includes us and we as individuals cannot think of anything but preservation
Our workplace and reaching retirement in peace and creating the next link in the chain of life. Because we have no choice.
The chain of life if it crushes the bricks below it has no existence.
We do not actively preserve the chain of life. Elephants have a physically bigger brain than humans. Maybe not mentally. But if a cat has thoughts and feelings, then what does an elephant creature with such a big brain think when it looks at us.
The attempt to create a global world that would know how to deal with challenges in one bloc did not succeed.
Today, through the virus, possible causes of extinction of the Neanderthal man are discovered. The genes we inherited from him are those that confer low resistance to the virus. When the Spanish invaded America there were, as I recall, 20 million Indians and 500 Spanish warriors. Through the distribution of blankets with diseases such as rhinitis - the community was reduced to a million in a few decades. Mass extinctions are also from diseases.
Imagine if, for example, the Western world was united as a bloc - then there would be 2 billion people and that would be a counterweight to China.
It was more difficult to go to war, but it was easy to run forward on the screen to Mars, in a nuclear fusion reactor - inexhaustible sources of energy, in saving mammals and others, in stopping bloody conflicts like Nagorno Karbach. There are 91% Christian Armenians and 9% Azeris. What is the question to whom does it belong? When there was a conflict in Yugoslavia, they did not hesitate to break it up into five countries.
It was harder for people to see how Democratic presidents favored refugees, and did not preserve blue-collar jobs for their own countrymen. It was easier to save animals, lower emissions and more, deal with the viruses in a regulatory manner.
Today's humanity is too divided, and everyone is busy in his own way, developing his own hypersonic missiles. The solution of globalization included gross distortions, but the solution of anti-globalization is also... a.
When science and progress are offered - entire audiences reject it. There must be some optimism.
There must be some body that will also try to save elephants from plagues.