Here some more interesting information and one more photo I got off: http://www.rhino-trust.org.na/html/body_dbde.html
“Euporbia damarana is often browsed by rhino, kudu, springbok and gemsbok for hours at a time. This plant is highly poisonous to humans and can cause blindness if the milk enters the eye. Extracts of Euphorbia species` chemical contents are used in the medical profession to combat certain types of cancer.”
And and found the abstract of the article from The Journal Of Arid Environments mentioned in the BBC news article. Here it it:
==============
Title: Mysterious circles in the Namib Desert: review of hypotheses on their origin
Authors: M. W. van Rooyen, G. K. Theron , N. van Rooyen , W. J. Jankowitz and W. S. Matthews
"Circular, slightly concave depressions, devoid of vegetation and often surrounded by a fringe of tall grasses occur in a broken belt in the pro-Namib zone of the west coast of southern Africa. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the origin of these so-called fairy circles. The most important of these relate to areas of localized radioactivity; termite activity; or allelopathic compounds released by dead Euphorbia damarana plants [Webster says that allelopathy means "the suppression of growth of one plant species by another due to the release of toxic substances"] . No evidence of increased radioactivity could be detected in soil samples collected from these sites. Although termites occur at these localities no evidence was found to link termite activity directly to the formation of barren patches. Bioassays conducted on soil collected from the centre of the barren patch clearly demonstrated an inhibition of plant growth, while soil collected from the edge of the barren patch had a stimulatory effect on plant growth. No indication of growth inhibition was found in soil collected beneath E. damarana plants. At this stage none of the proposed hypotheses can satisfactorily explain the origin of the fairy circles."
=============
But here you are, at least they are innocent of this crime. And just in case this is were you can find it (the areas in red). Well now you know where I was.
