Bees Are Saving Kenyan Farms From…Elephants?
Bees might be one of the best things to keep Kenyan farms safe from the growing number of elephants in the area according to Goodnet.
The African elephant population in countries like Kenya has been booming due to successful conservation efforts. Although this is great news for the elephants and conservationists, it isn’t for farmers. This is because the elephants tend to get into farms and eat or stomp on all of the crops that have been planted. The good thing is a very innovative way of keeping the elephants far from farms has been found by scientists.
The humming of African honeybees has been found to actually keep elephants away from farms. This means that farmers get their farms protected and honey from the bees. It also protects the elephants that might be hurt or even killed for stepping on farm land.
The hives are strung along the farms in a way that makes them shake if an elephant is stopping nearby. This shaking then causes the bees to start humming and scares away the elephants.
The nine year long study that found bee fences kept elephants away from farms roughly 86% of the time was published in October to the journal Conservation Science and Practice. The study monitored 26 different farms that were being protected by beehives near the elephant conservation park.
During the peak growing seasons from 2014-2020 more than 3,025 elephants approached the bee fences on most left after noticing them. Even during a large drought in 2017 that killed 75% of the bees, elephants were still avoiding the farms 76% of the time
