World

Kenya investigates unexplained deaths of 14 elephants near Amboseli

Herz — World Desk · 28 July 2026 at 18:01 · 30s summary · 2 min read

The essentials

Kenya has opened an urgent investigation into the unexplained deaths of 14 elephants near Amboseli National Park in the country’s south. Experts are examining the carcasses, and tissue samples have been sent to laboratories. Disease, poisoning and other factors are under investigation, but no single cause has been established. The elephants, which were of different ages and sexes, were found at several locations approximately 15 to 30 kilometres from the park boundary.

Fourteen elephants were found dead near Amboseli National Park.
Tests are examining disease, poisoning and other possible factors.
No single cause has been established at this stage.
The carcasses were from elephants of different ages and sexes.

Illustration image — USAID Africa Bureau, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

What we know

An urgent investigation has been opened into the unexplained deaths of 14 elephants in southern Kenya, near Amboseli National Park, the BBC reports.

The Kenya Wildlife Service, the Kenyan government agency responsible for wildlife conservation, has deployed experts to examine the carcasses.

Tissue samples have been sent to laboratories. The tests are intended to determine whether disease, poisoning or another factor caused the deaths.

The agency says there is currently no evidence pointing to a single cause.

Carcasses found at several locations

Duncan Wanyama, the agency’s head of communications, said the carcasses had been discovered at several locations around the park.

The locations are approximately 15 to 30 kilometres from the boundary of Amboseli National Park.

The elephants were of different ages and sexes, meaning the deaths were not confined to one family or demographic group.

Context

The Amboseli ecosystem includes the national park and its surrounding areas. It extends across the border between Kenya and Tanzania.

More than 2,000 elephants lived in the Amboseli ecosystem in 2025, according to figures from the Amboseli Trust for Elephants cited in reporting on the investigation.

Officials say no elephant mortality event of this scale had been recorded in the region for decades.

They add that poaching has been successfully tackled there.

The figures

Elephants found dead near Amboseli National Park

15 to 30 km

Approximate distance from the discovery sites to the park boundary

More than 2,000

Elephants living in the Amboseli ecosystem in 2025

What remains uncertain

The cause of the 14 deaths remains unknown. Examinations and laboratory tests have yet to distinguish between the possible explanations under investigation.

The available information does not explain why elephants of different ages and sexes were affected at several locations.