It took 3 years to decode the case of African elephants falling face down and dying en masse

Images of dead elephants across Botswana and Zimbabwe in 2020

From May to June 2020, sudden deaths occurred in the elephant community in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, causing a stir in the conservation community, and sparking global speculation about the cause behind the horrific phenomenon.

Carcasses of elephants of all ages, both male and female, were found strewn across the plains. Many were seen pacing in circles before falling face down and dying.

Two months later, another 35 elephants died in similar circumstances in northwestern Zimbabwe.

At the time, Botswana officials suspected the deaths were caused by an unknown bacterial toxin, but no further details were released to explain what was happening to the critically endangered African savannah elephant population.

Decoding the cause of hundreds of elephants collapsing to death in Botswana

After more than three years, toxicology tests taken from several elephant carcasses in Zimbabwe have finally identified the "hidden killer." It is the bacterium Bisgaard taxon 45 , a previously unnamed relative of the bacterium Pasteurella multocida .

The newly discovered strain of bacteria causes blood infections, and led to the mass deaths of 200,000 antelope in Kazakhstan in 2015, according to a report published in the journal Nature Communications .

The new discovery is the result of research by an international team of experts from the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust (Zimbabwe), the University of Surrey (UK), laboratories in South Africa and the UK Animal and Plant Health Agency.

African elephant numbers are declining by about 8% a year, mainly due to hunting, with only about 350,000 remaining in the wild.

The report suggests that infectious diseases need to be added to the list of challenges facing the species in its fight for survival.

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