In Africa's Okavango, oil drilling disrupts locals, nature
In Africa's Okavango delta, drilling for oil exploration, as well as human-caused climate change leading to more erratic rainfall patterns and water abstraction and diversion for development and commercial agriculture, has altered the landscape that so many people and wildlife species rely on.
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330 elephants in Botswana may have died from toxic algae
GABORONE โ 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 unexplained deaths ceased after the water pans dried up, said Taolo, in a press conference in Gaborone, the capital. No other wildlife species were affected by the toxic water in the Seronga area, close to Botswana's famed Okavango Delta, said Taolo. The deaths happened mainly near seasonal water pans and did not spread beyond the initially affected region, he said. He, however, could not explain why these toxins did not affect any other animals drinking the affected water.
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Loners no more: Male elephants stick together, study finds
In this 2016 photo provided by researcher Connie Allen, male African elephants congregate along hotspots of social activity on the Boteti River in Botswana. Younger male elephants were seen tagging along behind older males as they travel from place to place. They found that younger males seldom traveled alone and older males most often led groups of mixed ages. But their behavior was moderated after six older male elephants were added to the park. Were still learning about how male elephants acquire their cultural understanding of how to act, whom to defer to, and where resources like food and water sources are located.Because of their larger size and longer tusks, mature male elephants are most often targeted by poachers and legal trophy hunters in Africa.
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Elephants are dying from mysterious causes in Botswana
More than 360 elephants have died in mysterious circumstances in Botswana in the past three months, according to local conservationists. The Botswana government is testing samples from the dead elephants, but is yet to determine a cause of death. Appalling caseThe unusual number of elephant carcasses were first recorded at the start of May, McCann said. Botswana is home to 130,000 African elephants -- more than any other country on the continent. The Okavango Delta, where the carcasses were found, is home to around 10% of the country's elephants, McCann said.