For centuries, Maasai people have long told the story of how a group of large grey beasts that had been pushing over trees, ran off frantically when thousands of tiny winged creatures emerged from a tree. More than just a legend, researchers in the field of animal behaviour have long observed that like most of us, elephants run away when they hear the sound of angry bees!!!
In rural villages of Africa and Asia, encroaching human development in areas where wildlife once used to roam freely, have significantly increased human-elephant conflicts.
For starts, elephants are migratory animals, they move with the seasons in search of water and food. They often explore different migratory routes and find themselves either being blocked by new developments or breaking into farmland plots to take advantage of nutritional crops. Human settlements in wildlife corridors create a huge social, economic and conservation problem that has proven to be hard to solve.
When elephants raid the farms at night, humans have no choice but to defend themselves. These incidents usually end up in either one or the other getting hurt or killed.
An innovative group of scientists and conservationists have come with a sustainable solution to this problem. They have designed a set of beehive fences that are simple and cheap ($150-$500 per 100 meters). They are made with locally sourced materials and hung every 10 meters in a sort of network that gets activated once an elephant touches it.
Photo Credit: Elephants and Bees Project
The Beehive Fences have proven to be effective in 80% of the cases! and rural small-scale farmers have benefited from the project in many ways:
1. Reduced human-elephant conflicts: Elephants not only remember where the beehives are, they are able to alert other elephants through a series of alarm rumbles. [1]
2. Increased agricultural productivity: Less crops get destroyed by hungry elephants and potentially new crops will be pollinated by the bees.
3. Additional sources of revenue from honey: Beehives not only produce honey, they can also be a source of secondary income. The Elephants and Bees Project supports the community in selling elephant-friendly honey, candles and lip balm.
4. Improved quality of live: From not having to constantly being exposed to elephant crop raiders, to securing an additional source of revenue which allows the families to send children to school or improve their household.
5. Changed perception of wildlife: A key to successful conservation initiatives. Eco-tourism has proven to be a great incentive to secure natural reserves in most cases, but unless local communities are involved in the decision making and obtain a direct benefit from protecting wildlife, the risk of illegal poaching, poisoning etc will continue to be a major threat.
The guardian-bee concept might not be the perfect solution (if there is one!) but it has proven to be one of the most effective methods to alleviate elephant crop-raiding tensions and improve the quality of living for both, the local communities and the elephants.
A good example of community-based projects, the Beehive Fences sheds light upon a possible long-term solution to an ever increasing problem.
To learn more or to support this project visit Elephants and Bees here.
[1] King LE, Soltis J, Douglas-Hamilton I, Savage A, Vollrath F (2010) Bee Threat Elicits Alarm Call in African Elephants. PLoS ONE 5(4): e10346. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0010346
So true!! With population in Africa doubling in the next 30 years, we certainly need a more holistic review of land-planning and conservation ;) Thank you for reading!!!
What a smart way to reduce conflict and create economic value! We humans must endeavour to always look for sustainable way to co-exist happily and in peace with all the wild animals.