The number of elephants who have mysteriously died in a Zimbabwe forest has reached 22.
An investigation was launched earlier this week after 11 elephants were found dead in Pandamasue Forest, between the country's Hwange National Park and Victoria Falls.
Officials have taken blood samples from the elephants but no explanation has yet been found for their sudden deaths. They were found with their tusks still intact, which rules out ivory poaching as a cause.
Tinashe Farawo, a spokesperson for Zimbabwe's parks authority Zimparks said the latest deaths took place on Tuesday and Wednesday and all of the elephants were young, aged 18 or under.
Investigators believe all the deaths could have been caused by a bacterial infection, but the spokesperson said results would not come back for some time.
Mr Farawo said in a tweet: "After an aerial survey Zimparks can confirm that 22 jumbos were found dead in Pandamasue Forests. More samples are collected for lab tests. We are burning and burying the carcasses."
He told reporters: "We suspect it is the same causes as the first group and we are also looking at taking samples to other independent laboratories so that we can broaden our investigations."
It comes after the deaths of more than 275 elephants in neighbouring Botswana last month.
Scientists are still investigating the deaths in the country’s Okavango Delta area, with poaching, poisoning and anthrax all ruled out.
Botswana has the world's largest elephant population, estimated at 156,000. Zimbabwe has the second largest – with an estimated 85,000.
Last year about 200 elephants in Zimbabwe died of starvation as a result of the country's drought.
