Xinhua News Agency, Cape Town, August 8 (Reporter Gao Gao) Recently, hundreds of elephants died mysteriously in Botswana. An international team of experts recently published a commentary in the "African Wildlife Research Journal" that the possibility of human death from poisoning, poaching, starvation, and anthrax infection can basically be ruled out.
From May to June this year, about 350 African elephant bodies appeared in northern Botswana. The investigation found that the deaths of these elephants had nothing to do with their age and gender. Some died suddenly, falling directly on the ground instead of lying on their sides. Was someone deliberately poisoning, or died of hunger? Was it death by poaching, a virus or bacterial infection, or a natural toxin poisoning? There are many speculations about the cause of the elephant's death.
One of the authors of the article and Director of the Department of Animal and Entomology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, Almanda Bastos, introduced that although no definite conclusions have been drawn about the deaths of these elephants, malicious poisoning can basically be ruled out. , Because no other animals died nearby; it is also unlikely to be illegally hunted because the ivory is intact; the possibility of dying from starvation is unlikely because the local food available for elephants is sufficient; from the situation at the time of death, etc. , The possibility of anthrax infection has also been ruled out.
The expert team called for a comprehensive and rapid epidemiological investigation to grasp the dynamics of local disease transmission and to carry out in-depth laboratory research. They pointed out that if the real cause of the death of these elephants is not found, it will be difficult to prevent similar situations from happening again. The death of a large number of African elephants may have a more profound impact on the animal populations on the African continent, and Asian elephants may also be affected. spread.