Elephants’ Fear Of Bees Help Scientists Save Their Lives

In countries like Kenya, farmers are actually having a hard time keeping their crops alive because of wild elephants.

These huge animals have the tendency to attack farms, destroying the livelihood of a farmer in the process. Both human and elephant lives are claimed because of poaching, farm raiding, and habitat destruction.

The problem has existed for a while and it seems like there really isn’t a solution for it.

Or there actually is.

Several scientists came up with a viable idea that eventually turned out beneficial for the humans and elephants alike. And it’s one that curiously considered the behavior of these animals – their adverse reaction to the buzzing sound of African honey bees.

Farmers in Kenya and other countries often had problems with wild elephants destroying their crops.

You’ll be amazed with how the Elephants and Bees project has been extremely valuable for humans, elephants, and even the bees themselves. In fact, the simple project has apparently proven to be revolutionary due to the fact that hundreds of elephants have been saved.

Dr. Lucy E. King spearheaded this award-winning research project in collaboration with Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Oxford University, and Save The Elephants.

With these hives attached on property lines, elephants were deterred by the sound of the bees.

What they did was to build several fences around local farms to drive elephants away without harming them. Hives are then attached to the property lines and so when the elephants run into the lines, the bees make some noise and the elephants immediately walked away.

According to the Elephants and Bees official website:

The Elephants and Bees Project is an innovative study using an in-depth understanding of elephant behaviour to reduce damage from crop-raiding elephants using their instinctive avoidance of African honey bees. The project explores the use of novel Beehive Fences as a natural elephant deterrent creating a social and economic boost to poverty-stricken rural communities through pollination services and the sustainable harvesting of “Elephant-Friendly Honey”.

You can watch the video here:

These folks are indeed doing a great job in saving both the farmers’ livelihoods and the lives of the animals.

If you want to learn more about the project, you can visit the Elephants and Bees website or check out their Facebook page for more updates. You can also drop by their Click and Pledge page if you are interested to donate.

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