Elephants are afraid of bees and there are numerous case studies across the world to show that the world’s largest land-based animal is terrified of the tiny insect. While a bee sting does not affect the thick hide, it is the stings to the elephant’s most sensitive areas, namely its trunk, mouth and eyes, that hurt the most. Research has shown that in Africa, placing beehives every 30 m or so is effective in keeping 80% of African elephants away from farmland. A paper in Current Biology (2018), titled “Wild Sri Lankan elephants retreat from the sound of disturbed Asian honey bees”, has shown that the Asian elephant is also scared of bees. Therefore, using bees has potential as a control strategy in Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and Thailand.
Beehive fences are gaining popularity in Africa, costing a fraction of what an electrified fence would, according to an NYT article. Farmers also have a new source of income from selling honey besides boosting the role of bees as top pollinators. As far as the strategy of sound amplification is concerned, which has been elaborated in the report, “Honour for ‘Plan Bee’ that helped save jumbos” (July 10), the fact is that elephants are smart and quickly learn that the threat from a recording of buzzing bees is unreal. Therefore investing in the real thing works best as a few stings reinforce its efficacy.
Nadikerianda Chinnappa,
Bengaluru
