Anthrax in its natural form is a threat to humans, though far less than weaponised anthrax. Up until the 20th century when a vaccine was developed by Louis Pasteur it was known to kill hundreds of thousands of livestock and humans annually. Unfortunately, recent events of terrorism have led many to the belief that anthrax is a weapon, and nothing more, and few people are aware of its importance in regulating wildlife populations across the world. Anthrax, the naturally occurring bacterium not the envelope-delivered biological weapon, is responsible for a lot of herbivore mortality in Etosha. It is thought to be why elephant populations in the park aren’t growing out of control like so many in other national parks. Anthrax spores are able to remain dormant in the harsh environment of Etosha and once inhaled or ingested by animals (mostly herbivores that ingest dust during grazing) cause mortality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An example of anthrax’s effect on the elephants of Etosha

 

Some tourists who read that anthrax research is being conducted, ask why the funds aren’t being “better spent getting rid of anthrax”. Without mentioning the obvious impracticalities of removing something that exists near-worldwide and lies dormant for years or the cost associated (over $25 million was spent to decontaminate ONE office building) it is easy to put forward good reasoning, just mentioning population regulation enabled by anthrax.

 

An anthrax project has been progressing in Etosha for years. The project has continually sampled carcasses for anthrax, and noted numerous other data and as such has contributed to a wealth of knowledge on mortality in Etosha. Even though carnivores like lions and hyenas build up immunity to anthrax it can still affect their behaviour. One project is researching how seasonality of anthrax outbreaks in prey can affect the associations between lions and hyenas. Regrettably these lion-hyena associations revolve around plain-old carcass stealing and not around Whoopi Goldberg song and dance spectaculars as the Lion King led me to believe. Fortunately though this project hinges on having satellite collars on the animals and requires help from all in Etosha including me and my video “skills” (read: familiarity with Canon DSLRs and a willingness to stay out all night on the hunt for focal animals). So there you have it- anthrax, not just a biological warfare agent but a pretty important part of life in Etosha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grazers such as zebra are highly susceptible to anthrax