How elephants’ fear of bees could benefit them and humans where their habitats overlap

Researchers in South Africa’s Greater Kruger National Park proved that African elephants are afraid of honeybees.

They hope to use this trait locally as a strategy to keep elephants away from human-populated areas, reported Live Science. The researchers published their study in the journal Current Biology.

Honeybees release pheromones when they sense a threat. These pheromones act as a natural alarm signal calling members of the hive to assist in the defense of the hive by stinging. Scientists realized that if elephants could sense the alarm pheromones from honeybees, they’d likely keep their distance from that area.

To test this theory, the researchers placed a sock filled with a slow-release matrix containing a blend of honeybee alarm pheromones near a watering hole frequented by the park’s elephants. They watched 25 of 29 elephants approach the sock and briefly inspect it from a distance before backing away in fear.

Researchers think elephants are afraid of bees because they dislike being stung in the soft tissue inside their trunks and around their eyes. They surmise that as the elephants evolved, they learned to identify the alarm pheromones and to steer clear of honeybees to avoid their painful stings.

Strategies to prevent conflict and loss of elephants

Human populations are growing in regions of Africa and Asia that overlap with elephant habitat, making it important to develop safe elephant-management strategies that will help prevent conflict and the loss of elephants.

The threat of bees is so intensely felt by elephants that conservationists in Kenya are using it to help prevent the kinds of conflict that put these animals at risk.

Watch: Elephants also run from the sound of bees
The New York Times reported that researchers persuaded farmers in Africa to use elephants’ fear of bees as a fence line to protect crops. By stringing beehives every 20 meters – alternating with fake hives – a team of researchers have shown that they can keep 80 percent of elephants away from farmland.

Save the Elephants, a nonprofit conservationist group, builds wire and beehive fences at a cost of about $1,000 for a one-acre farm, said Dr. Lucy King, who heads the human-elephant coexistence programme for the charity. The farm gets protection against elephants and a modest new source of income from a twice-a-year honey harvest.

Watch: Bees help Kenyan farmers fend off elephants
Another study led by Dr King, who is an Oxford University research associate, found that Asian elephants are also afraid of bees, though perhaps less so. It’s the first step toward showing that the control strategy can also work in countries like Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and Thailand, where Asian elephants are 10 times more endangered than their African cousins.

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Pachyderm woes worry villagers in Wokha

Dimapur, July 25 (EMN): Wild elephants entering human habitats in Wokha district have left behind a trail of destruction and fear. The public of stated area is reported to be living in constant fear, community organisations have informed.

A joint press release issued by the chairmen of Old Riphyim Village Council and New Riphyim Village Council, was received here on Wednesday. It stated that wild elephants have damaged paddy fields, and crops in said villages.

They have reported that a herd of about 20 wild Asian elephants was spotted by villagers at an area called Tchukhum, located at a quarry a few kilometres away from a helipad, on the morning of July 23.

The incident is stated to have happened close on the heels of a report by a district committee about the loss of human life and damage to crops and properties by wild animals.

The villages reported that the presence of wild elephants in their only cultivable land and forest was becoming a threat to the lives of the people in the area. It is causing frustration among the farming community of Old and New Riphyim villages, it informed. It was reported that wild elephants had been venturing closer to human settlements every year, and posing a threat to humans and the elephants alike.

A district forest officer said that the area was badly affected. The source informed that the same herd of elephants had been around for a while in the area because there are “many things to eat in the fields,” the source said when contacted.

While acknowledging the plight of the people, the source said it was impossible to ‘take the elephants away in such a terrain.’ It was informed that partial funding was given to the affected farmers from ‘Project Elephant,’ which is a project that caters to elephant reserves.

The officer asserted that the matter was not an ‘elephant menace’ but a ‘human-elephant conflict.’ “There is a need to do a lot more for this issue especially in Wokha as 50% of elephants in Nagaland is in this district,” the source said.

Cultivation and plantations in the vicinity are not safe and piggery and dairy farm projects have been abandoned also because of the fear of elephants, it was informed.

As the majority of the population there are cultivators, it stated, they depend solely on farming and green produce for livelihood. With the crops on the verge of being harvested, there seems to be a growing apprehension among the farmers that their crops would be damaged by the elephants unless the government takes measures, the statement added.

The villagers have appealed to the Nagaland government to offer compensation for the loss caused by the elephants. The authorities have been urged to assess the impact of the issue on farmers.

In the country, it is informed that nearly 350 deaths occur every year due to man-elephant conflict. According to a report of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, over 12000 hectares were reportedly damaged during 2013-14.

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To prevent elephants from straying on tracks, Indian Railways has a very novel idea

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has this system in place across four of its divisions at select level crossings where elephant zones exist. (PTI)

The sound of honeybees downloaded from the internet to keep elephants away from railway tracks has created quite a buzz after the novel idea introduced by the Northeast Frontier Railway brought down the number of accidents. The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has this system in place across four of its divisions at select level crossings where elephant zones exist. The idea was implemented in late 2017 and this year only six elephants have died after colliding with a train. In 2013, the number of elephants killed was 19, in 2014 it was 5, in 2015, it was 12, in 2016, it was 9, while in 2017, it was 10.

“We installed this in Rangiya division and once it was successful we have installed it in other locations as well. This was started barely six months back,” said Lokesh Narayan, Additional General Manager, NFR. Unlike in Kenya, where boutique beehives are dangled from fences to keep elephants away, NFR uses an electronic “buzzer” to keep the animals at bay. While elephant-repulsion techniques such as the chili bomb and electric fences have been used earlier, this buzzing sound has been the most effective and cost-efficient.


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Sound Of Bees To Keep Elephants Off Rail Tracks Creating A Buzz

Guwahati: The sound of honeybees downloaded from the internet to keep elephants away from railway tracks has created quite a buzz after the novel idea introduced by the Northeast Frontier Railway or NFR brought down the number of accidents.

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has this system in place across four of its divisions at select level crossings where elephant zones exist.

The idea was implemented in late 2017 and this year only six elephants have died after colliding with a train. In 2013, the number of elephants killed was 19, in 2014 it was 5, in 2015, it was 12, in 2016, it was 9, while in 2017, it was 10.

"We installed this in Rangiya division and once it was successful we have installed it in other locations as well. This was started barely six months back," said Lokesh Narayan, Additional General Manager, NFR.

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