Protecting crops from raiding elephants is not an easy task for
Africans farmers where wild elephants often roam free, until a
group of British researchers working in Kenya made a remarkable
discovery —elephants are naturally scared of honey bees. Zoologists
found that elephants would quickly move away if they heard so much
as the sound of a buzzing hive. These elephants have even adopted a
special call used to warn the rest of the herd when they are in the
vicinity of bees.
So Oxford zoologist Lucy King and his colleagues took the idea
to its logical conclusion —the creation of a fence containing
beehives. This so called ‘beehive fence’ was first deployed as a
test in Kenyan farms by a charity organization called “Save the
Elephants”. Farms were fenced off by nine beehives hung under small
thatched roofs. Each beehive was placed ten meters apart and were
linked together by wire. Researchers found that farms protected by
beehives had far less human-elephant conflict than unprotected
farms.
That was in 2002. Beehive fencing is now a growing phenomenon in
Africa and Asia. The fences are easy to make using only locally
sourced materials, and they cost a fraction compared to the cost of
concrete barriers and electrified fences. Even with the hives empty
of bees, elephants are wary of nearing them as the smell of the
hives is enough a deterrent. The hives are connected by wires so
that if an elephant tries to cross the barrier, the interconnecting
wire shakes the hives releasing the bees.
The resident communities also benefit from the bees, through the
harvest and sale of honey. Pollination work of the bees can also
increase biodiversity and even increase the yield of the crop that
they protect.
Researchers are not sure why elephants are scared of bees,
because an elephant’s skin is too thick for bees to cause any
damage. But there are areas where bees can do sting elephants, for
example, around eyes and inside of the trunk. It’s possible that
elephants avoid bees to prevent such an experience.
