One Hundred Elephants Die After Watering Holes Dry Up

A hundred elephants have died due to a lack of water amid severe drought in Africa. Elephants living in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park have suffered as seasonal, summer rainfall continues to be over a month late. Watering holes have turned into nothing more than muddy puddles, according to a release from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). The national park is home to around 45,000 elephants but the IFAW reports that "at least" 100 have died by now. 

And, the situation could worsen if the rains do not come soon. It is not the first time elephants have suffered due to lack of rainfall-in 2019, 200 elephants died for the same reason. Experts have put the lack of rainfall down to the El Niño weather pattern. During an El Niño year, the ocean becomes unusually warm in the Equatorial Pacific. 

Effects from this depend on the area, but it causes drier than usual conditions in southern Africa, meaning water is more scarce than usual. These dry conditions could also be a knock on effect from climate change, which has been reducing important resources for wildlife around the world in recent years. 

"Elephants and other wildlife species will face a crisis if the rains don't come soon," says Phillip Kuvawoga, a landscape programme director of IFAW, said in statement. African elephants are an endangered species, meaning these continued deaths could be devastating for the population. 

According to Kuvawoga, there are other knock on effects from these mass deaths. "Wild animals protect the carbon already stored in nature, prevent it from being released into the atmosphere, and help nature soak up and store even more carbon," he said. 

"The anticipated deaths of elephants and other species, such as we are seeing in Zimbabwe right now, must be seen as a symptom of deep-seated and complex challenges affecting the region's natural resources conservation, aggravated by climate change.

" These elephants usually rely on the 104 boreholes in the national park, which are solar powered. However, these boreholes rely on water from rainfall and park authorities claim it is "no match for the extreme temperatures." A photo shows an elephant that died due to lack of water in Zimbabwe. 

At least 100 have died so far. . Privilege Musvanhiri Zimbabwe is not the only country affected by dry weather. Between 2018 and 2023, thousands of animals died in the Horn of Africa, which has suffered at the hands of a drought for years. 

This is also having a negative impact on humans living in these countries. As resources become scarce, wildlife and humans are having to compete for them. 

For those living in rural communities, elephants may wander into villages in search of food and water that they cannot find in their own habitat.

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