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
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Nadikerianda Chinnappa,
Bengaluru