Beehive blocks elephant path to destroy plants

The fence made of interlinked honeycomb significantly reduced the devastating crop of elephants, Oxford University scientists said.

The fence is made of beehives located on piles beneath a small straw roof (to avoid the sun). The hives are connected by an 8-meter-long fence. Elephants avoid the beehives and will find ways to cross the fence, but this will cause the beehives to vibrate vigorously and the elephants will be afraid of being attacked by bees.

Close-up of the honeycomb fence against the elephant's crop destruction.(Photo: Oxford / Lucy King University)

The results of a study in Kenya, published in the African Journal of Ecology, show that a farm protected by a honeycomb fence has a successful rate of elephant attack on plants by 86%, and the rate Attack elephants are reduced by 150% compared to farms without fences.

This significant reduction is noted despite the fact that these beehives do not have bees. This suggests that elephants still remember 'painful' encounters with African honey bees and often avoid images and smells associated with them.

Lucy King of Oxford University's Department of Zoology, who led the project in collaboration with Save the Elephants charity fund, said: 'Our previous research shows that elephants are often afraid and avoid audio recordings. bee buzzing. We designed the honeycomb fence as a practical and inexpensive method to create barriers that elephants dare not pass. '

Lucy King excitedly said: 'The response from the farmers involved in the study is very positive. The design of our honeycomb fence proved effective, and cheap enough for farmers to build themselves - it also protected the farm from cow-thieves, and when African honeybees arrived. Living in these beehives, farmers will have 2 to 3 honey harvests every year '.

During the six weeks of experimental research, the team used GPS to track a 'notorious' destructive elephant called 'Genghis Khan'. Some farmers found that Genghis was devastating crops in a herd of 18 male elephants.

Despite the thick skin, adult elephants can be stung by bees around their eyes or on their backs, while small ones are likely to die from the venom of a swarm of bees because they have not developed protective thick skin. Lucky King said: 'We hope these results will encourage farmers in other regions to build honeycomb fences to minimize conflicts between humans and elephants leading to tragedy: elephants shot dead, while farmers lost their crops'.