i like to keep bees and they have fascinated me for years , i am also very passionate about elephants and the trials they face across africa where they are in conflict with locals ...

this article is interesting and got my attention ...

i am not a fan of save the elephants but this is some interesting stuff .

Increasing elephant populations in Kenya since 1989 have been widely praised as a conservation success story. However, where elephants and agricultural land overlap, incidents of human–elephant conflict are on the increase. Wildlife managers and farmers are now trying different farm-based deterrents to keep elephants out of crops. Here, we present data on the effectiveness of a novel beehive fence deployed in a Turkana community of 62 commu- nally run farms in Kenya. Specifically, 1700 m of beehive fences semi-surrounded the outer boundaries of seventeen farms, and we compared elephant farm invasion events with these and to seventeen neighbouring farms whose boundaries were ‘protected’ only by thorn bush barriers. We present data from 45 farm invasions, or attempted invasions, recorded over 2 years. Thirteen groups of elephants approached the beehive fences and turned away. Of the 32 successful farm invasions, only one bull elephant broke through the beehive fences. These results demon- strate that beehive fences are more effective than thorn bush barriers at deterring elephants and may have a role to play in alleviating farmer–elephant conflict. Addition- ally, the harvesting of 106 kg of honey during the trial period suggests that beehive fences may also improve crop production and enhance rural livelihoods through honey sales.

heres the website ...

www.elephantsandbees.com/resea...ct/Publications.html

Very interesting, the question is why do they avoid the "bee fence"? Is it as basic as they get stung and don't like it or something else, like the low hum of the hives or the scent keeps them away?

No doubt, "African Bees"

just some eles being good

Ivan, in a very different elephant/bee experience, we once shot an elephant for the Vic Falls Croc farm and the truck with the dismembered elephant carcass was parked outside Robins Camp tower and the swarms of bees which were resident above the tower and were normally so docile, went crazy. and swarmed the truck stinging anyone and everything multiple times.

Skinners, game scouts, rangers and labourers were all trying to fit into the truck cab alog with a million bees!

We could only think that the smell of blood infuriated the bees. there was no lack of moisture at that time.

have you ever seen anything like that?

Cheers.

in western tanzania and also cameroon sometimes you kioll and animal and there is not a bee in sight , as soon as there is blood thousands of bees arrive , usually not agressive but stings are inevitable as they often get caught in a crease in your clothing or you grab one by mistake !

quote:

Originally posted by JCS271:
Very interesting, the question is why do they avoid the "bee fence"? Is it as basic as they get stung and don't like it or something else, like the low hum of the hives or the scent keeps them away?

Bees are naturally attracted to holes and always in search of moisture and an elephant's trunk has both - my guess is elephants don't relish the thought of having a trunk full of bees.

P.S. I very much doubt a bee sting would ever penetrate the hide of an elephant but might just cause some serious irritation on the more sensitive inner membrane of the trunk which connects to the sinuses, inner ear, etc.

I would be more inclined to agree that the "buzzing" around a hive is an inbred sound that they know needs to be avoided.

Fujotupu, your theory sounds good to me. The buzzing of bees; only honey badgers and bears would like that sound.