8 July 2021

On Wednesday night, 18 elephants died on a hilltop in Assam. The preliminary post-mortem report indicates they had been struck by lightning. While the state government is waiting for the final report before definitely ruling out other possible causes, the preliminary conclusion raises a question: Can a single flash of lightning kill 18 elephants? The answer is yes, based on science and a history of such events.

How does lightning kill animals?

Lightning may injure or kill animals in a number of ways, physicist and engineer Chandima Gomes wrote in the International Journal of Biometeorology in 2012.

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