A wildlife veterinarian in north-west Zimbabwe made a shocking discovery in late August 2020 when he found a group of dead elephants suspected to have died from anthrax. As he was gathering samples, another five dead elephants were discovered the next day in the hot Zimbabwean sun. This marked the beginning of a mysterious wave of elephant deaths in the area.
The concern escalated when poaching, starvation, and anthrax were ruled out as the cause of death for these elephants. The Botswana government had recently attributed a similar mass elephant die-off to a cyanobacterial toxin, prompting heightened worry and curiosity over the situation in Zimbabwe.
After thorough examinations, researchers concluded that a bacteria called Bisgaard taxon 45 was responsible for the deaths of 35 African elephants in Zimbabwe. This finding was particularly alarming as this bacterium was previously unknown to be fatal to African elephants.
With no clear source of infection or route of transmission, researchers speculated that factors such as heat and drought conditions might have triggered the normally harmless bacteria to become infectious. Additionally, past instances of similar bacteria causing mass deaths in animals under heatwave conditions raised further concerns about the potential impact of climate change on wildlife health.
The study was published in Nature Communications. The investigation emphasized the need for further research on Bisgaard taxon 45 and its potential impact on wildlife, providing wildlife veterinarians and conservationists with a new and important consideration to understand and address going forward.