Elephants

Zimbabwe: Elephants die from 'bacterial disease'

The elephants were found lying on their stomachs, which experts say suggests they died suddenly.

Park officials do not believe they were the victims of poaching as their tusks had not been removed.

Earlier this year hundreds of elephants were found dead in Botswana from a type of bacterial poisoning.

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZPWMA) says about 34 elephants have been found so far. However it's thought that there may be others which have not yet been found.

Elephants loose on motorway in Murcia, Spain

One of the elephants died from injuries that it sustained, while two others were hurt, local police say.

The injured animals had to be lifted by a crane from the carriageway.

The incident occurred on Monday afternoon in the town of Pozo Cañada near Albacete in the Murcia region. The driver of the truck involved in the crash was not injured.

The vehicle is believed to be a circus lorry.

The director of the government department responsible for Spain's road transport network, Gregorio Serrano, posted a video of the elephant evacuation to social media.

 

Elephants' low cancer rates explained

They were trying to explain why the animals have lower levels of cancer than would be expected by their size.

The team at the University of Utah said "nature has already figured out how to prevent cancer" and plan to devise new treatments.

But experts said the focus should be on the "ridiculous" and "absurd" things humans do to increase risk.

There is a train of thought that says every cell can become cancerous so the more of them you have, the more likely you are to get cancer.