Poisoning of Elephants in Hwange

Date: September 6, 2013 • Location: Dete, Zimbabwe

Forty-one elephants are poisoned with cyanide in salt pans, by poachers in Hwange National Park.

In chemistry, a cyanide is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a C≡N functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. The name, from Greek kyanos 'dark blue', comes from the compound's historical association with the Prussian dark blue pigment.