Cases of animals dying after eating the crop have been reported, although they are not that common.

In 1933, 14 elephants died near a forest in the southern state of Tamil Nadu after eating kodo millet, according to a report, external in collaboration with ecologist Raman Sukumar and mycologist TS Suryanarayanan in Down to Earth magazine.

Mr Sukumar, who has worked extensively on the conflict between Asian elephants and wildlife, told the BBC that elephants frequently eat millets when they enter fields in search of food.

Elephants have a good sense of smell, but mycotoxins are odorless and tasteless.

“My guess is that the elephants tried to eat as much as possible in as little time as possible because they knew the farmers would drive them away,” he said.

He adds that the weather also probably played a role in the growth of the fungus on the millets. A few days before the deaths, there was heavy rain in the region, producing humid conditions conducive to fungal infection.

After the news started blaming the kodo millet, the authorities destroyed some crops in villages near the national park.

The toxicology report recommends surveillance and destruction of fungal-infected crop residues and prevention of domestic and wild animals entering such fields.

But farmers in the area said they have been growing kodo millet for years without any adverse event.

Mr Sukumar also says it is still rare for fungal infections to produce mycotoxins in Kodo millet.

“The elephants were unhappy this time,” he says.

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