During May and June of 2020, 365 elephants dropped dead in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Some looked dazed and confused moments before death; others dropped dead instantly. Thankfully, the deaths have ceased, but the cause of those deaths remains uncertain. None of the elephants were poached, as their tusks remained intact and their carcasses bullet free. Initially, the two main causes were suspected to be poison from the local people or something naturally induced. Botswananian officials later concluded that neurotoxins produced by cyanobacteria present in the elephants’ water were the cause of death. A deputy director of Botswana’s Department of Wildlife said: “There’s absolutely no reason to believe that there was human involvement in these mortalities. This is not a phenomenon that was just seen now, it is something that happens quite a lot when there are these environmental changes.”
Not all conservationists, however, concurred with that conclusion. Some questioned why elephants were the only species to fall victim to these toxins when other animals surely drank from the same tainted water source. Conservationists also questioned the Botswanian government's findings, as they released very little information regarding which lab produced the results and the number of samples tested. Also, most neurotoxins produced by cyanobacteria thrive in saltwater, as opposed to the freshwater the elephants drink. To explain some of these inconsistencies, several scientists have reasoned that the elephants had an extreme sensitivity to this neurotoxin, or that the high water consumption of elephants exposed them to a higher amount of neurotoxin. However, much uncertainty still remains as to the true cause of these deaths.
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