Chris M Foggin, Laura E Rosen, Marijke M Henton, Angela Buys, Toby Floyd, Andrew D Turner, Jonathan Tarbin, Antony S Lloyd, Columbas Chaitezvi, Richard J Ellis, Helen C Roberts, Akbar Dastjerdi, Alejandro Nunez, Arnoud H M van Vliet, Falko Steinbach
The sudden mortality of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Botswana and Zimbabwe in 2020 provoked considerable public interest and speculation. Poaching and malicious poisoning were excluded early on in the investigation. Other potential causes included environmental intoxication, infectious diseases, and increased habitat stress due to ongoing drought. Here we show evidence of the mortalities in Zimbabwe as fatal septicaemia associated with Bisgaard taxon 45, an unnamed close relative of Pasteurella multocida...
October 25, 2023: Nature Communications