Deaths of hundreds of elephants may have been cause by toxic algae

An elephant in Botswana (Ed Lane Fox/PA)

The sudden deaths of some 330 elephants in northwestern Botswana earlier this year may have occurred because they drank water contaminated by toxic blue-green algae, the country’s government has announced.

The elephants in the Seronga area died from a neurological disorder that appears to have been caused by drinking water tainted by “a toxic bloom of cyanobacterium in seasonal pans (water sources) in the region”, said Cyril Taolo, acting director of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks.