GABORONE, Botswana—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 government announced Monday.
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.
