I'll see if I can find the article but a couple of years ago there was another mass die off of a type of deer that has an enlarged nose. It appears the the average temperature had risen just enough to allow a common bacteria they had in the nasal passage to replicate at speed and poison them. It wasn't just the temperature, but the humidity (or lack of) that also led to this, I'll see if I can find the article.<p><a href="https://phys.org/news/2015-05-mass-deaths-rare-kazakhstan-antelopes.html" rel="nofollow">https://phys.org/news/2015-05-mass-deaths-rare-kazakhstan-an...</a> edit here was the detail. It appears it was the rain that caused the issue and a third of the total population died.
>The way the animals appear to be dying - many dropping on their faces - and sightings of other elephants walking in circles points to something potentially attacking their neurological systems<p>This line was extremely sad and discomforting to read. I'm no expert in wildlife but I saw they mentioned in another article about anthrax occurring naturally in the ground in parts of Botswana and has been known to kill wildlife in large numbers but this one rules it out. Hope the true cause of death is not only discovered early but also acted upon to prevent further damage.
You guys should consider donating to David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust[0][1] which takes care of elephant and rhino orphans. For $50 a year, you can become a sponsor of a particular animal and they'll send you photos and updates about how your sponsored animal is doing. You can for example sponsor this little fella [2][3].<p>There is also the the International Anti-Poaching Foundation[4][5] which fights poachers. The founder, Damien Mander[6] is an Australian ex spec-ops sniper who is using his military experience to train park rangers since they, unlike the poachers, tend to be poorly equipped and trained as well as understaffed.<p>[0] <a href="http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org</a><p>[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sheldrick_Wildlife_Trust" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sheldrick_Wildlife_Trust</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/orphans/murit" rel="nofollow">https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/orphans/murit</a><p>[3] <a href="http://instagram.com/p/sigT3IAUKb" rel="nofollow">http://instagram.com/p/sigT3IAUKb</a><p>[4] <a href="http://www.iapf.org/en/" rel="nofollow">http://www.iapf.org/en/</a><p>[5] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Anti-Poaching_Foundation" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Anti-Poaching_Fo...</a><p>[6] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Mander" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Mander</a>
The number of mass animal deaths seems to be greatly increasing in over the last two decades:<p>- Half of all Saiga antelopes (120k) died over a month, 2015 [1]<p>- Recent unexplained dog deaths in Norway, 2019 [2]<p>- The ongoing white nose syndrome epidemic that's ravaging bat populations in North America [3]<p>- Gray whales beaching themselves all along US West Coast, 2019 [4]<p>- Ongoing, mass die-off of about 30% of frog and other amphibian species in the New World caused by a fungus [5]<p>Not to mention the commonly noted large decline in insect populations and colony collapse disorder in bees.<p>It seems that the proximate causes for these events are varied, but the sheer pace, magnitude, and number of affected species should hint that this is ultimately caused by downstream impacts of rapid changes in the environment precipitated by climate change.<p>One factor that I'm betting will eventually be implicated in many animal die-offs are biotoxins created by algae and molds. Many algaes and mold species are capable of creating toxins, but are normally non-toxic. However, under environmental stress and disruption, they can quickly produce a wide variety of nasty toxins. These biotoxins tend to target the nervous system, the immune system, and cell metabolism.<p>For example, seafood harvesting has been stopped with increasing frequency in Northern California in the last decade due to high domoic acid levels [6]. Many lakes were closed in the Bay Area due to cyanotoxins potentially poisoning dogs and people.<p>> The way the animals appear to be dying - many dropping on their faces - and sightings of other elephants walking in circles points to something potentially attacking their neurological systems, Dr McCann said.<p>Top photo on the article looks like a lake undergoing an algal bloom, so potentially elephants are dying from ingested neurotoxins.<p>Unfortunately for us, harmful algae blooms seem to be increasing in frequency [7] and potentially affecting human health.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saiga_antelope#2015%E2%80%932016_epizootic" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saiga_antelope#2015%E2%80%9320...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49627463" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49627463</a><p>[3] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-nose_syndrome#Cause" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-nose_syndrome#Cause</a><p>[4] <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-life-distress/2019-2020-gray-whale-unusual-mortality-event-along-west-coast-and" rel="nofollow">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-life-distress...</a><p>[5] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chytridiomycosis" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chytridiomycosis</a><p>[6] <a href="https://caseagrant.ucsd.edu/project/frequently-asked-questions-domoic-acid-in-california-crabs" rel="nofollow">https://caseagrant.ucsd.edu/project/frequently-asked-questio...</a><p>[7] <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Judith_ONeil/publication/256015193_Co-occurrence_of_dinoflagellate_and_cyanobacterial_harmful_algal_blooms_in_Florida_coastal_waters_A_case_for_dual_nutrient_N_and_P_input_controls/links/0a85e52fbe07b196ad000000/Co-occurrence-of-dinoflagellate-and-cyanobacterial-harmful-algal-blooms-in-Florida-coastal-waters-A-case-for-dual-nutrient-N-and-P-input-controls.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Judith_ONeil/publicatio...</a>
[meta] The magic of HN: For a while this was right underneath an article about a bot framework, which made me think it was gonna be a "show HN" along the lines of "Botswana: a new bot framework." (Obviously quite sad what it actually turned out to be.)
Maybe it has something to do with Botswana's lifting of their ban on elephant hunting, apparently because "The number and high levels of human-elephant conflict and the consequent impact on livelihoods was increasing."
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48374880" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48374880</a><p>They subsequently auctioned off permits to hunt elephants.
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-51413420" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-51413420</a>