Previously, we shared a post related to issues of eutrophication and explained about its impact. Today, I would like to share a tragedy that happened in Botswana due to eutrophication.
Botswana Elephant Deaths
Botswana has been home for one-third of the elephant population in Africa (BBC, 2020). Since this year May, large numbers of elephant’s corpses were being found in the Botswana region. According to the official record, around 330 elephants were involved in this mysterious death (BBC, 2020). During the investigation, the government has ruled out the possibility of illegal poaching for the ivory and insisted that the incident was due to a natural cause.
On September 21, the Department of Wildlife and National Park released a statement suggesting that the incident was caused by a toxic bacteria named Cyanobacteria or blue-green algae. These toxic bacteria were identified in the water samples collected from the nearby water body. The authority suspected that the elephants have been drinking and bathing in the toxic water. Scientists articulated that climate change and the rise in temperature might be the contributing factors leading to the breed of blue-green algae in water bodies.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nigmu-ZDZI
Further Investigation Required
However, the result did not manage to convince everyone. Some experts have argued that the result still contained several loopholes. Lindsay mentioned that the evidence was unable to provide sufficient proof that it was not an anthropogenic incident because the local farmers had trouble dealing with elephants intruding their plantation (Swails & Rahim, 2020). Besides, if the elephants were poisoned from drinking the water, why were they the only species affected? Therefore, many experts have urged the need to conduct further investigations and tests, especially on samples collected from the corpses to further clarify the source and cause of the mysterious deaths for better prevention in the future (Weston, 2020).
Cheers,
Shee Wen & Nicole 
References:
BBC. (2020). Botswana: Mystery elephant deaths caused by cyanobacteria. Retrieved September 25, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54234396
Swails, B., & Rahim, Z. (2020). Toxins in water blamed for elephant deaths in Botswana. Retrieved September 25, 2020, from https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/21/africa/botswana-elephant-deaths-intl/index.html
Weston, P. (2020). Botswana says it has solved mystery of mass elephant die-off. Retrieved September 25, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/21/botswana-says-it-has-solved-mystery-of-mass-elephant-die-off-age-of-extinction-aoe