British and Botswanan ecologists have found that mass elephant deaths in Botswana in 2020 were due to drought and subsequent heavy rains that caused algae blooms in local freshwater bodies. This was reported by the press service of King’s College London (KCL).
“Southern Africa is becoming hotter and drier as the climate changes, making virtually all sources of drinking water in the area increasingly less accessible to animals. “Our analysis shows how these changes associated with climate warming could have catastrophic consequences for the people of southern Africa.” – said a KCL researcher Davide Loméowhose words are quoted by the university’s press service, TASS reports.
Scientists reached this conclusion after studying the circumstances of the death of more than three hundred elephants in Botswana, which occurred in March 2020 in the Okavango Delta, home to one of the largest proboscis populations on the planet. Temporary lakes and other bodies of water often appear on the territory of this delta, which serve as a source of water for local fauna.
Scientists noticed that the mass death of elephants in Botswana was accompanied by a rapid proliferation of cyanobacteria, which led them to think of a connection between these events. To test this assumption, scientists studied satellite images of the Okovango River Delta from 2017 to 2020 and noted in them those bodies of water in which episodes of algal blooms often occur.
Ecologists compared this data to where Botswana conservation services found elephant carcasses in the spring and summer of 2020, as well as the migratory routes of these dead animals. As a result, scientists discovered two dozen bodies of water next to accumulations of bodies of dead animals, in which at the beginning of 2020 a massive and very strong proliferation of cyanobacteria suddenly began, associated with the establishment of an unusually warm and dry climate. in the south. Africa in 2019.
Increased rainfall the following year, 2020, caused large amounts of nutrients to rise into the lake waters, causing cyanobacteria blooms and making the water toxic to local elephants, most of whom died two or three times. days after contact with poisoned bodies of water. Understanding this, environmentalists hope, will help environmental authorities in Botswana and other southern African countries prevent similar episodes in the future.
The number of African elephants (Loxodonta Africana) has been declining rapidly in recent decades. Before World War II, its population included between 4 and 5 million individuals, but by the mid-1970s it had decreased to 1.3 million. After a brief stabilization of the population at the beginning of this century, elephant numbers began to decline again. which is associated with the demand for ivory in Asian countries and rapid population growth in some African countries.
