KENYA

Flamingos in still waters Many flamingos were recently found dead on the shores of Lake Nakuru and Lake Bogoria in western Kenya. Researchers attribute their death to pollution. "We have identified several toxic metals present in their bodies," said Ramesh Thamphy, Rift Valley lakes specialist of the World Wide Fund for Nature ( wwf ). The toxic metals can be attributed to the unabated discharge of factories' effluents, sewage and fertilisers into the country's waterbodies. An analysis revealed the presence of nine heavy metals in every bird, including lead, mercury, arsenic, copper and zinc. "These metals are making the flamingos susceptible to stress that they would normally be able to handle quite easily," said Thampy.