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.
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.
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.
Zimbabwe investigates mysterious deaths of 11 elephants
HARARE Zimbabwe's parks authorities in Zimbabwe are investigating the death of 11 elephants in a forest in the west of the country, a parks spokesman said Sunday. In recent years poachers in Zimbabwe have poisoned dozens of elephants and then have taken their ivory tusks to sell them to illegal traders. We are also ruling out poachers because the tusks were intact.The mysterious deaths of the elephants in Zimbabwe appears similar to the deaths last month of more than 275 elephants in neighboring Botswana. Scientists are still investigating the deaths of the elephants in Botswana's Okavango Delta area and poaching, poisoning and anthrax have been ruled out. Last year about 200 elephants in Zimbabwe died of starvation as a result of the country's drought.
Prince Harry backs climate strikes
(CNN) - Prince Harry has given a full-throated defense of climate action by young people around the world, including the Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg. In an interview with CNN on the banks of Botswana's Chobe River, Harry said: "The world's children are striking. "I don't think that there is anyone in this world that can deny science," he continued. I don't think anyone isn't involved in conservation or shouldn't be involved in conservation somehow," Harry said. Harry said that the enthusiasm of children here in Botswana and around the world have given him purpose.