African Elephant Die-Off

Things are looking up for us Portlanders! As Oregon begins to come out of lockdown and the weather is getting more and more glorious, I think that doom and gloom in our WISdom posts is, once again, fair game. And it doesn’t get much doomier nor gloomier than elephants dying for mysterious reasons. African forest elephants were declared “critically endangered” and African savannah elephants ``endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature this past March. Unfortunately, elephant die-offs have been happening intermittently since 2020. In May and June of last year, about 350 African elephants died in the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana. In the first quarter of 2021, 39 deaths were reported. In a state television address, Botswana’s Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism pointed towards cyanobacteria toxins as a potential cause. Since the die-offs have only affected elephants, scientists have to piece together what sources would affect one species in a wider ecosystem. Poaching was ruled out, since the elephants’ bodies have been found intact. Whatever the cause, scientists will have to figure out how to rectify this problem--fast. African elephants don’t have the luxury of time (read more here).

Natalie Wang is currently working on her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University as a Hodson Trust Scholar. Her research interests are in DNA damage and repair, as well as post-operative delirium in older patients. Natalie started volunteering with WIS PDX in 2019 as a member of the outreach and education team, and is now the producer and a co-host of WIS's podcast, WISterhood. When not listening to music or doom-scrolling on Twitter, she can be found checking closets for Narnia.