(ANSA) - CAIRO, SEPTEMBER 30 - After at least 330 elephants died in Botswana due to toxins produced by microalgae, now also in Zimbabwe it is suspected that a bacterial disease is responsible for the death of over 30 pachyderms in the Southern African country.
The BBC website reports.
The "Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority" (Zpwma) counted 34 between Hwange National Park and Victoria Falls but suspects that more may have died at the same time.
Zpwma director general Fulton Mangwanya, however, called it "unlikely" that this death alone would have "any serious impact on the survival of the elephant population."
Zimbabwe and neighboring Botswana are home to about half of the 400,000 elephants recorded in Africa.
However, scientists warn that climate changes could make poisoning by toxic algae more frequent, which multiply in warm waters.
(HANDLE).