Elephant seen in Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal, for the first time since 2020

An Elephant has been observed in the Niokolo-Koba National Park in the east of Senegal for the first time since January 2020. The Elephant, identified as a 35-40-year-old bull called Ousmane, was observed at night by a camera trap earlier this month. Five years ago, Ousmane was one of five-to-ten Elephants living in the park, but no sightings have been made, and it was assumed that Elephants had become locally extinct in Senegal.

A bull Elephant called Ousmane in the Niokolo-Koba National Park in June 2025. Niokolo-Koba National Park/Panthera.

Senegal was once home to hundreds of Elephants, bur they were hunted heavily during the colonial period, and a combination of the value of their tusks and competition for land with Humans has led to their population continuing to fall. Even before their apparent disappearance in 2020, Elephants were thought to be in almost irreversible decline in Senegal, with the population being both very small and very inbred. Ousmane, the last known surviving Elephant in Senegal is known to be a hybrid between two Elephant species, African Forest Elephant, Loxodonta cyclotis, and African Savanna Elephant, Loxodonta africana (both of which are considered to be Critically Endangered), and it is unclear if he would be able to breed if the opportunity arose.

Founded in 1981 the Niokolo-Koba National Park covers 9130 km² of gallery forests, savannah grass floodplains, ponds, and dry forests, cut through by the Gambia, Sereko, Niokolo, Koulountou rivers. As well as Elephants the park is home to one of two (known) remaining populations of Lions in West Africa, and populations of Giant Eland, Taurotragus derbianus, the largest extant Antelope species, Gianr Pangolin, Smutsia gigantea, African Wild Dogs, Lycaon pictus, and West African Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes versus.

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Contaminated medicine linked to the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia.

The deaths of 66 children in The Gambia, West Africa, have been linked to contaminated medicines from India.  The children, who all died of acute kidney failure, had all consumed cough syrups produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals, a company based in Haryana State, India. Another 81 children are being treated in hospitals for kidney problems linked to the products.

Musa Kayateh, one of 66 children in The Gambia who died after consuming medicine products products produced by Indian company Maiden Pharmaceuticals. Kayateh Family/BBC.

The contamination was not detected immediately as The Gambia does not have a laboratory capable of testing pharmaceuticals, with doctors initially suspecting a range of illnesses, including Malaria and Meningitis. Only after samples were sent to a laboratory in neighbouring Senegal was it discovered that four paracetamol-based cough syrups produced by Maiden Pharmaceuticals, Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup, all contained diethylene glycol, a sweat-tasting chemical which has been linked to several previous poisoning incidents.

Medicines seized by authorities in The Gambia following the discovery that they were contaminated with diethylene glycol. Milan Berckman/AFP.

Following the discovery Police and Red Cross workers in The Gambia carried out a door-to-door search for these drugs, eventually confiscating over 16 000 products. The World Health Organization has issued a global alert for these drugs, as, while they were only ever officially exported to The Gambia, there is a danger that they may have reached other countries, particularly those in West Africa, by informal routes. 

Opposition politicians and families of the deceased children have questioned the delays in tracing the cause of the deaths, claiming that the government should have reacted more quickly once children began to die. The Gambian government has defended its actions by pointing out that the deaths did not immediately show up against a high child mortality rate in the summer months, already made worse by  extensive flooding this year, with an associated jump in the number of cases of water-borne diseases. The Gambian government has now announced plans to open an laboratory capable of carrying out quality assays on medicines.

Flooding in Banjul, The Gambia, in August 2022, triggered by the heaviest rains in 50 years. The Standard Newspaper.

In India, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (India's national regulatory body for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and medical devices) and Haryana State Government have began an investigation into the activities of Maiden Pharmaceuticals, with samples of the four cough syrups having been sent to the regional pharmaceuticals testing lab in Chandigarh. Maiden Pharmaceuticals has previously been accused of selling substandard medicines by several Indian states, including Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, and Kerala, and its products have been banned in Vietnam over similar concerns.

Paracetamol-based cough syrups have been phased out in India, following an incident in 2020 in which 17 children died of diethylene glycol poisoning in Jammu and Kashmir State. They have been replaced with liquid paracetamol suspensions, in which diethylene glycol is easier to detect. 

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The Cabeço da Amoreira burial: An Early Modern Era West African buried in a Mesolithic shell midden in Portugal.

The Tagus and Sado valleys of central Portugal contain numerous shell middens, dating back to the Late Mesolithic, roughly 6500 to 5000 years ago. As well as depositories for waste shells, these sites were used as burial grounds by the people who made them. A number of these sites were excavated by archaeologists in the 1930s, producing a series of sets of Human remains, buried within the middens without grave goods. One site, Cabeço da Amoreira at Muge in the Tagus Valley yielded an individual noted at the time as being both notably taller and better preserved than others recovered from such sites. More recently, scientists working on a database of Mesolithic European genomes have begun to sequence individuals from these Mesolithic Portuguese sites, including the Cabeço da Amoreira individual, in the process of which they found that this individual was not closely related to other individuals from Mesolithic burials in Portugal, or elsewhere in Europe, but rather appeared to be of African descent.

In a paper published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports on 21 February 2022, Rita Peyroteo-Stjerna of Human Evolution at Uppsala University and the Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Luciana Simões, also of Human Evolution at Uppsala University, Ricardo Fernandes of the Department of Archaeology at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, the School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford, and the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University, independent researcher Gonçalo Lopes, and Torsten Günther and Mattias Jakobsson, again of Human Evolution at Uppsala University, present the results of the follow up study which used multiple lines of enquiry to determine the origin of the Cabeço da Amoreira individual.

 

Location of Cabeço da Amoreira shell midden (indicated by the star), Muge, Tagus valley, Portugal. Peyroteo-Stjerna et al. (2022).

Radiocarbon dating of material from the Cabeço da Amoreira site, including bone, charcoal and shells, have produced dates of between 6500 and 5000 BC, consistent with a Mesolithic origin for the site, however, radiocarbon dating of collagen from the individual buried at the site yielded dates between 1529 and 1763 AD, and probably between 1631 and 1793, consistent with an Early Modern origin. 

Relationships between Early Modern Europe and Africa were dominated by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which saw millions of people taken from Africa and shipped to European colonies in the New World, and to a lesser extent Europe itself. Portugal is estimated to have directly imported 2-3000 African slaves per year between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. Most of these remained enslaved their whole lives, though some were freed and able to live relatively independent lives, albeit very much at the bottom of the social scale. 

Because mitochondrial DNA is found in the mitochondria, organelles outside the cell nucleus, it is passed directly from mother to child without being sexually recombined each generation, enabling precise estimations of when individuals shared common ancestors, at least through the female line; this is known as the female haplogroup. It is also possible to trace direct ancestry through the male line, using DNA from the Y chromosome, which is passed directly from father to son without sexual recombination; this is known as the male haplogroup. Since everyone has mitochondria, it is possible to determine the female haplogroup of all Humans, but generally only males have a Y chromosome and can be assigned to a male haplogroup.

Genetic analysis of the Cabeço da Amoreira individual established that he had a Y chromosome, indicating that he was male. It was also possible to determine both his male haplogroup. He was found to belong to the E1b1a male haplogroup, which is the most widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, being commonly found in Nigeria, Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, and among Bantu-speakers in Southern Africa.

A principle component analysis based upon his entire recoverable genome revealed that Cabeço da Amoreira man showed a greater genomic similarity to West Africans than to other populations, and in particular, to people of Gambian or Mandinka origin. 

 

(A) Principal component analysis. Worldwide modern populations (circles coloured according to continent) and Cabeço da Amoreira man projected as a yellow, red outlined diamond. (B) Geographic distribution of the genetic affinity of the studied individual with modern African populations, measured by outgroup-f₃. The two highest f₃ scores are depicted with diamonds. Peyroteo-Stjerna et al. (2022).

Peyroteo-Stjerna et al. next looked for alleles (gene variants) associated with sub-Saharan populations, finding that Cabeço da Amoreira man had a number of alleles which would further support an African origin, notably the FY*B allele, which is associated with resilience to Malaria, and a number of skin pigmentation alleles, namely MFSD12 rs10424065; DDB1 rs11230664; OCA2 rs1800404; SLC45A2 rs16891982; and HERC2 rs6497271, which are more commonly associated with sub-Saharan African populations than with Europeans (skin pigmentation is complicated, genetically speaking, and it is not possible to directly determine someone's exact skin tone from their genome at the current time, but it is possible to associate allele abundances with specific populations). Cabeço da Amoreira man also lacked the alleles for lactase persistence (i.e. retaining the ability to digest milk into adult life), sugesting that he was lactose intolerant, something more common in Africans than Europeans.

A stable isotope analysis for carbon and oxygen isotopes, based upon bone collagen from Cabeço da Amoreira man, suggested that when he was growing up his diet comprised largely C₄ Plants, supplemented with seafood. A diet of C₄ Plants is not at all typical for Portugal (or elsewhere in Europe) in the Early Modern period, although it would have been common in parts of West Africa, notably the Sahel Region (which reaches the coast in the Senegambia region and southern Mauritania), where the principal crops for the time would have been Sorghum and Millet, both of which are C₄ Plants. Further south, in the West African forest zone, the principal crops were Rice (a C₄ Plant) in the west and a more mixed vegecultural diet (also based around C₄ Plants) in the east. Therefore, the C₄ Plant component of Cabeço da Amoreira man's diet makes it likely that he came from the Sahel region, and the seafood component further ties him to the Senegambia and Mauritania region.

 

Estimated area of origin of Cabeço da Amoreira man (mug019) in West Africa and place of burial in Portugal. Traditional plant food-producing systems in West Africa. Peyroteo-Stjerna et al. (2022).

Around 35 000 slaves were brought to Portugal from Africa between 1514 and 1866. Records of these movements are fairly complete after 1750, but older records are somewhat patchy, making the origin of Cabeço da Amoreira man difficult to reconstruct in this way. However, it is known that slaves were brought to Portugal from predominantly from Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia, with smaller numbers arriving from the Cape Verde islands, Princes Island and São Tomé, Bance Island (Sierra Leone), the Gold Coast (Ghana), Senegal and Whydah (on the coast of modern Benin). 

Most slaves in Portugal during this period would have been baptised as Christians, and buried in Christian burial grounds. However, there are records of slaves being buried in other ways, including by roadsides, in wastelands or in Olive groves. The Church generally kept good records of births, deaths, marriages, and baptisms during this period, for all social classes including slaves, which offered some hope of discovering the identity of Cabeço da Amoreira man. Peyroteo-Stjerna et al. were able to identify two deaths of interest in the Cabeço da Amoreira area in the seventeenth century, the first of an unnamed slave on 5 May 1633, for whom no burial location is listed, and the second of the murder of a man named João at Arneiro da Amoreira on 1 November 1676; João is described as being brown skinned, which may indicate that he was of mixed origins, but he was buried in a churchyard, so presumably was not Cabeço da Amoreira man.

One notable feature of the Cabeço da Amoreira burial is that the body does not appear to have been buried hastily, but rather laying upon a bed of sand which had been used to line the grave, something not seen in Mesolithic shell midden burials (the difference was noted at the time of excavation, but the significance of this, understandably, was not realised).This implies that the burial at this location was planned and carefully executed, rather than being the hurried disposal of the body of a slave or murder victim.

Shell midden burials, both ancient and modern, are known from the Senegambia region, and are still sometimes practiced among Serer fishermen in the Saloum Delta. Here, some families maintain temporary settlements on islands deep within the delta, which are used for four-to-five months each year, when shellfish are harvested. Since these sites are essentially located on shifting sandbanks, the shell middens that build up their form stable hardgrounds, which can be used for purposed such as supporting structures and burying anyone who dies while the temporary villages are in use.

 

Modern cemetery on a shell midden, at Fadiouth in the Saloum Delta, Senegal. Hardy et al. (2015).

This does not unequivocally tie the Cabeço da Amoreira burial to the Senegambia region, but does create a plausible scenario in which members of a community transplanted to Portugal, who had practiced shell midden burials in their homeland, might have chosen to recreate the practice in their new environment.

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Thousands of Great White Pelicans die in Avian Influenza outbreak in Senegal and Mauritania.

Nearly 2500 Pelicans died in late January in two National Parks on the border of Senegal and Mauritania as a result of an outbreak of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, according to a press release issued by BirdLife International on 4 March 2021. In late January 2021, 750 Great white pelicans were found dead in the Djoudj Bird Sanctuary, a remote pocket of wetlands and a UNESCO World Heritage site in northern Senegal, which provide a rest stop for millions of migratory birds every year. This was followed by the death of 1642 pelican chicks and two dozen adult pelicans in Diawling National Park in Mauritania bordering northern Senegal, which hosts over 250 bird species. According to national authorities, these deaths were attributed to the outbreak of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.

Following the outbreak, the national governments of Senegal and Mauritania are coordinating an emergency response. Nature Mauritania and the collaborating organisation in Senegal Nature Communautés Développement are at the forefront of this response. Nature Mauritania is raising awareness of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in communities in Diawling, and is leading a surveillance committee set up in Banc d’Arguin to monitor any outbreak of the disease. Nature Communautés Développement in Senegal has activated its network of members and volunteers to monitor and report any death of birds across the country. While no further Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreak has been reported in the two countries, epidemiological surveillance is ongoing in other sites including parks and reserves. Increased collaboration and information sharing between the two countries is ongoing.

 

A pod of Great white pelicans in Djoudj Bird Sanctuary in Senegal. Lewis Kihumba/Geoffroy Citegetse. Birdlife International.

More importantly, a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Action Plan has been developed in Senegal and the focus is now on its implementation. Three sub-committees on Epidemiology, Surveillance and Biosecurity have been established. Currently, meetings are being held with donors and technical partners to finance this action plan. Furthermore, epidemiological monitoring of wild and domestic birds, and active surveillance in marketplaces and ornithological sites, are ongoing. Capacity building to ensure an effective response is also being carried out. The Senegalese coordinating team is currently undergoing training on Incident Management Systems.

'The Great White Pelican is a migratory bird with a large range in Africa. Monitoring the key sites used by the species in West Africa is key to prevent the spread of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza. Transboundary cooperation and involvement of communities is essential in this response' stated Djibril Diallo, Executive Director of Nature Mauritania.

Cross-border meetings between authorities in Senegal and Mauritania are also taking place to ensure coordination between the two countries. BirdLife International and its partners will continue supporting national authorities in Mauritania and Senegal to implement the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Action Plan and enhance monitoring to prevent future outbreaks.

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Illegal Rosewood shipment intercepted in The Gambia.

A shipment of Rosewood has been intercepted as its owners tried to export it from The Gambia, West Africa, according to a statement made by the Gambian Environment Minister,  Lamin Dibba, on Monday 8 February 2021. The shipment comprised 22 containers of wood bound for an undisclosed destination, which has been seized by customs officials. Rosewoods, Pterocarpus and Dalbergia spp., have been heavily over-exploited in many areas of Africa due to the high value of their timber, and their export is now banned from most countries. The Gambia has previously been a major exporter of Rosewood, and is now largely depleted of these trees, with neighbouring Senegal accusing the smaller country of being a conduit for the export of trees felled illegally there.

 

A container filled with Rosewood logs intercepted in The Gambia this week. The Fatu Network,

The term Rosewood, or 'Hongmu' (红木) refers to a group of 29 timber species with distinct features valued in China, including the rich hue, extreme durability and often a pleasant smell. Hongmu species are widely used in antique furniture reproduction in China and Vietnam. Nearly half of the world’s countries (95 in total) across five continents have been exporting Rosewood to China since 2000. At a plant genus level, where studies exist, 90 percent of Pterocarpus and Dalbergia populations show declining or unstable populations. Since 2015, Africa has become the world’s top Hongmu producing region, accounting for the majority of all Hongmu log imports to China by volume between January 2015 and June 2019. Demand for Hongmu has driven boom-and-bust cycles, marked by steep increases in harvest and export volumes from individual countries before a sudden collapse, or 'bust'. Once a species is exhausted in one country, or new control measures are put in place by governments, smuggling networks quickly identify new supplies and move to the next country or region. This phenomenon of 'boom and bust' in the Rosewood trade has been well documented and was confirmed by the CITES Secretariat in 2019.

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Kenyan man extradited by the United States for trafficking in Rhinoceros horns, Elephant ivory and heroin.

Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced in a press release on Monday 25 January 2021, that Mansur Mohamed Surur, 60, a Kenyan citizen, was extradited from Kenya and arrived in the United States this morning. Surur was arrested by Kenyan authorities on 29 July 2020, in Mombasa, Kenya, on charges of conspiracy to traffic in Rhinoceros horns and Elephant ivory, both endangered wildlife species, which involved the illegal poaching of more than approximately 35 Rhinoceros and more than 100 Elephants.  In addition, Surur was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 10 kilograms of heroin. Surur's co-defendant, Moazu Kromah, a citizen of Liberia, was previously deported to the United States from Uganda on 13 June 2019.  Co-defendant Amara Cherif, a citizen of Guinea, was extradited to the United States from Senegal on 3 April 2020.  Co-defendant Abdi Hussein Ahmed, citizen of Kenya, remains a fugitive. Surur is expected to be arraigned later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman.  The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods.

 

 

Mansur Mohamed Surur, extracted from Kenya to the United States to face charges of trafficking in Rhinoceros horns, Elephant ivory and heroin. The Standard.

 

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  'Mansur Mohamed Surur is alleged to be a member of an international conspiracy to traffic in Rhino horns, Elephant ivory, and heroin.  The enterprise is allegedly responsible for the illegal slaughter of dozens of Rhinos and more than 100 Elephants, both endangered species.  The excellent work of the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration has put an end to this operation.'

 

According to allegations in the indictment Kromah, Cherif, Surur,  and Ahmed were members of a transnational criminal enterprise based in Uganda and surrounding countries that was engaged in the large-scale trafficking and smuggling of Rhinoceros horns and Elephant ivory, both protected wildlife species. Trade involving endangered or threatened species violates several U.S. laws, as well as international treaties implemented by certain U.S. laws.

 

From at least in or about December 2012 through at least in or about May 2019, Kromah, Cherif, Surur, and Ahmed conspired to transport, distribute, sell, and smuggle at least approximately 190 kilograms of Rhinoceros horns and at least approximately 10 tons of Elephant ivory from or involving various countries in East Africa, including Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal, and Tanzania, to buyers located in the United States and countries in Southeast Asia.  Such weights of Rhinoceros horn and Elephant ivory are estimated to have involved the illegal poaching of more than approximately 35 Rhinoceros and more than approximately 100 Elephants.  In total, the estimated average retail value of the Rhinoceros horn involved in the conspiracy was at least approximately $3.4 million, and the estimated average retail value of the Elephant ivory involved in the conspiracy was at least approximately $4 million.

 

The defendants exported and agreed to export the Rhinoceros horns and Elephant ivory for delivery to foreign buyers, including those represented to be in Manhattan, in packaging that concealed the Rhinoceros horns and Elephant ivory in, among other things, pieces of art such as African masks and statues.  The defendants received and deposited payments from foreign customers that were sent in the form of international wire transfers, some which were sent through U.S. financial institutions.

 

On a number of occasions, Kromah, Surur, and Ahmed met with a confidential source (identifies as 'CS-1'), both together and separately, concerning potential purchases of Elephant ivory and Rhinoceros horn.  During these meetings and at other times via phone calls and electronic messages, CS-1 discussed with Kromah, Surur, and Ahmed, in substance and in part, the terms of such sales, including the price, weight, or size of the rhinoceros horns, as well as payment, destination, and delivery options.  CS-1 also discussed with Cherif via phone calls and electronic messages, in substance and in part, the terms of the sales, as well as how to send payment for Rhinoceros horns from a United States bank account located in New York, New York.  On or about 16 March 2018, law enforcement agents intercepted a package containing a Black Rhinoceros horn sold by the defendants to CS-1 that was intended for a buyer represented to be in New York, New York.  From in or about March 2018 through in or about May 2018, the defendants offered to sell CS-1 additional Rhinoceros horns of varying weights, including horns weighing up to approximately seven kilograms.  On or about 17 July 2018, law enforcement agents intercepted a package containing two Rhinoceros horns sold by the defendants to CS-1 that were intended for a buyer represented to be in New York, New York. 

 

Separately, from at least in or about August 2018 through at least in or about May 2019, Surur and Ahmed conspired to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than approximately 10 kilograms of heroin to a buyer represented to be located in New York. 

 

Surur is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking and two counts of wildlife trafficking, which each carry a maximum sentence of five years; one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years; and one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.  The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

 

Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.  In addition, she thanked law enforcement authorities and conservation partners in Uganda as well as the Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Kenyan Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for their assistance in the investigation.  Ms. Strauss also thanked the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs for their assistance, and noted that the investigation is continuing.

 

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.  Assistant United States Attorneys Sagar Ravi and Jarrod Schaeffer are in charge of the prosecution. The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations.  The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

 

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Yellow Fever reported in Senegal.

The World Health Organization has reported an outbreak of Yellow Fever in Senegal, West Africa, with seven cases reported since October 2020. The first case, in a 40-year-old female patient from Kidira in the east of the country, was reported on 18 October, and confirmed by tests carried out at the Institut Pasteur de Dakar on 29 October. On 31 October an eight-year-old boy, also from Kidira, was also reported to have contracted the Virus and subsequently died of the disease. On 5 November a second death occurred in Kidira, this time a 23-year-old patient. A fourth case, this time in a fifteen-year-old male patient, was reported from Kidira on 16 November. A further three cases have been reported in Matam, Tambacounda and Kedougou, although no further fatalities have been reported.

Senegal, West Africa. Google Maps.

Yellow Fever is a Mosquito-born Flavivirus (the group of RNA Viruses that also includes the West Nile, Zika and Hepatitis C Viruses). The Virus causes a mild fever, accompanied loss of apatite, nausea and muscle pains, which passes within about 15 days. However, in about 15 % of cases a more severe infection attacks the liver and kidneys, which can lead to their failure, and therefore the death of the patient.  It originated in tropical Africa and but was carried to South America and the Caribbean during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Outbreaks of the disease have also been recorded in parts of tropical Asia and the Pacific in recent years, and many countries in tropical regions require visitors to carry a certificate proving they have been vaccinated against the Virus.

The Yellow Fever Virus. Erskine Palmer/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Wikipedia.

Senegal has caried out a national program of vaccinations against Yellow Fever since 2005, however the country, particularly the eastern regions, is still considered to be a high risk for the disease, due to the persistence of the disease in wild Primates, and there are concerns that the vaccination program may have been disrupted this year by the Covid-19 epidemic.

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