The hives were left empty. The elephant, the largest animal on earth, is afraid of bees. No longer sleepless nights beating oil drums to drive the roaming elephants away, no longer night fires or firing weapons into the air – the Bee Security Force – the Bee Askaris are doing their work . According to the Elephants and Bees Project, a collaboration between Save the Elephants, Oxford University, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, “We have field tested this Beehive Fence design in three rural farming communities in Kenya with over 85% success rate in all locations. It seems that this only has to happen once for an elephant never to forget the experience. TED Talk Subtitles and Transcript: Imagine waking in the middle of the night to an elephant ripping the roof from your house in search of food. A map of Angola showing Chibia . Marisa suggested the use of bee-hive fences as an Eco deterrent, based on our research and they went on to build a functional prototype beehive fence utilizing free Elephants and Bees online resources such as the beehive fence construction manual in Cambondo village, Cuanza Norte province. The work is the culmination of previous research which showed elephants are naturally scared of African honey bees. The bee fences boost crop pollination and honey production—as well as allow rural farmers and wild elephants to coexist. A beehive fence in action – an occupied hive deters this elephant from moving past the fence. Uganda is Africa Condensed into a small Country-The Pearl of Africa, The Weather and Climate in Uganda – East Africa, Uganda Travel Tips and Advice for Visitors-Tourists to the Pearl of Africa. Elephants have an innate aversion to bees. Fences created with Beee- Hiives keeps elephants at bay, keep them out of fields and gardens, away from the crops protecting villages that are near wildlife parks such as Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. Where did it come from? Since then, the team made several adjustments to improve the effectiveness: increasing the bee population, reducing the distance between the hives, and a low-cost trigger mechanism, which opens the hives to activate dormant bees when elephants try to break through the fence. Previous work has shown that African elephants Loxodonta africana will avoid African honeybees Apis mellifera scutellata. The Beehive Fences still function to help keep elephants out of farms even when the hives aren’t occupied, but they are much more effective as a deterrent method when they are occupied – because, just like people, elephants don’t like getting stung, so they flee both the presence and the sound of bees. The first camera trap video we captured showed a small herd of elephants breaking through the newly installed fence. Many Things have been tried from shooting guns into the air to scare them off to digging trenches that at the end of the day are filled by the elephants. Science & Environment, Northern Rangeland Elephant: BBC Wildlife Fund, Beehive fence deters crop raiding elephants: African Journal of Ecology. "The fence deterred a significant portion of elephants," King told Earth News, speaking from her tent in the Kenyan bush. Elephants’ famous long-term memory also helps make the fences effective. In some places in Uganda they have resorted to burning red peppers along with elephant dung but the method that seems to work best in scaring off the giant Elephants have been the tiny Bumble-Bees. This is a reality in some communities in Africa where, as wild spaces shrink, people and elephants are competing for space and resources like never before. Science & Environment, 08 Oct 07 | Experiments seem to suggest that bee-hive nests put on fences around farms prevent elephant herds from invading the fields and eat up the crop. The Elephants and Bees Research Center is based in Mwakoma Village, here we have our friendly project office, the honey processing room and our community training center. If an elephant disturbs the fence, then the hives shake and the bees become agitated, and the elephants are deterred. Results show that crop-raiding of elephants has been successfully reduced in the beehive fence protected farms in Sagalla community and it is here that the Elephants and Bees project has built a friendly Elephants and Bees Project office, a Rufford Honey Processing Room and a training center, so that other farming communities around Sagalla and farmers from other regions of Kenya can be trained. Bee Fences have proved to be an effective method for protecting crops from elephant raids on them and their crops and at the same time providing ongoing income from the sale of honey. Elephants are afraid of bees. This conflict of wildlife and people can turn to anger in the local communities and lead to poaching in order to recover their losses and the losses are not small. But they can and do sting elephants around the eyes and inside the trunk. news.bbc.co.uk › earth › hi › earth_news › newsid_8081000 › 8081521.stm A taste of honey: how bees mend fences between farmers and elephants Elephants cross a tea garden to enter a paddy field in Assam, India. The beehives are connected to each other with strong wires. To evaluate this idea, we set up a pilot beehive fence. Langstroth beehive fence line in Tsavo The beehive fence protected farms in Sagalla have an average of 80% success rate against crop-raiding elephants. That is under way across 60 farms, with funds provided by the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, Safaricom Foundation and Save the Elephants. I erected 20 honey bee boxes around my plantation in October 2019 and since then even if the elephants wandered nearby, they never breached the fence… 14 Feb 09 | Now, to tourists and conservationists, elephants are a sight to behold, but to a farmer staying awake the whole night protecting his/her farm, week in week out, the elephant often comes off as a pest. This is an important factor as elephants that feel intimidated or threatened are more likely to attack. But from our other work in Kenya we have learnt that elephants avoid feeding on trees with beehives in and they run away from bee sounds," says King. As they roam, they often come across increasing numbers of farms created by pastoralists who are being encouraged to settle down and grow crops. In the Ex-Erok community in the southern region of Laikipia, Kenya, the team recruited farmers whose crops were regularly raided by elephants. 8 February 2012. Method. The number of hives occupied by bees along the fence was the best predictor of elephants’ visits to farms. Our award-winning project explores the use of Beehive Fences as a natural elephant deterrent, helping protect farmers and farmland. A fence of beehives is built around a farm. In the effort to promote human-elephant co-existence, it’s also the season that offers a chance for Elephants and Bees Project to see how effective the beehive fences are. Now a team led by King, including Vollrath, has taken the idea to its logical conclusion - the creation of a fence containing beehives. 12-Reasons why you should, The Best Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Hiking Trails in Uganda, All Day Chimpanzee Habituation Experience – CHEX – Kibale Forest, The Amabere Ga Nyina Mwiru Caves near Kibale Forest, Practical Guide -Kidepo Valley National Park, Best Murchison Falls Park Wildlife Safaris in the largest Park in Uganda, Top Things to do and see in Budongo Forest, Top Things to Do and See – Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, Best Queen Elizabeth Park Wildlife Safaris in the Pearl of Africa-Uganda, Experiential Safari Activities in Queen Elizabeth Park – Uganda, Lion Tracking Research in Queen Elizabeth Park, Golden Monkey Trekking – Mgahinga Gorilla Park, Golden Monkey Habituation Experience – Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Top Things To Do and See in Jinja on the River Nile, What to See and Do in Uganda the Pearl of Africa, Uganda – Tourism Awards – Accolades – Recognitions. Bees have the potential to deter elephants as well as provide additional income to farmers from honey. The fence is set up off the ground at chest height and contains hives spaced every 10 metres. In Kenya, elephants are not confined to national parks or reserves. The farmers than recorded how many elephants raided their crops and how often. "Even with empty hives, the beehive fence is a swinging, moving complex shape which provides a visual barrier to approaching elephants. Uganda Money Information – Tips – Advice for Travelers, Health Advice – Tips – Information for Uganda-Rwanda Travelers, Fun and Serious Facts about Uganda – The Pearl of Africa, Visiting the Batwa People in Uganda-The First People of the Forest, The Bagisu Imbalu Public Circumcision Rites, Best Places to buy Arts and Crafts in Kampala, Top Travel Tips for Women Travelers to – Uganda – Rwanda. Despite their thick hides, adult elephants can be stung around their eyes or up their trunks, while calves who have not developed this thick skin could potentially be killed by a swarm of stinging bees. "We are having good success with hive occupations but the drought has caused the experiment to go on hold until the next rainy season in November when the community will try to plant once more.". Why is Uganda called the Pearl of Africa? No such incidences have been noted with the vuvuzela deterrent systems. Many things had been tried but only one seems to be effective – Bees. They go out of their way to avoid them. A pilot study in Kenya has shown that such fences reduce the number of raids by elephants by almost half. The Elephants and Bees Project is part of the Save the Elephants’ Human Elephant Coexistence Program, based in Sagalla, Kenya, next to Tsavo National Park. – villagers are sleeping peacefully at night and at the same time have new... 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