There’s a folklore in Kenya, that African elephants are scared of bees. The buzz of these tiny insects is enough to send the world’s largest land mammals fleeing for their lives.
In 2007, zoologists and elephant experts, Dr Lucy King, Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton and Professor Fritz Vollrath of Save the Elephants (STE), decided to test this theory by playing recordings of angry buzzing bees to groups of elephants. The research, supported fully by the Kenya Wildlife Service, revealed that not only do elephants flee but they also headshake, dust and rumble to each other to stay away. This unique research led the team to develop one of the most effective solutions to Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) – the Beehive Fence.
This ingenious yet straightforward device comprises yellow beehives and dummy hives strategically connected by a metal wire and hung around a field of crops. When an elephant tries to enter the farm, the tugging of the wire disturbs the bees prompting them to buzz and scare away the intruder. This innovative solution not only safeguards farms from elephants but also boosts farmers’ income through the sale of honey and enhanced crop yields due to bee pollination.
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