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11 - Elephants and Bees

Using Beehive Fences to Increase Human–Elephant Coexistence for Small-Scale Farmers in Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 April 2019

Beatrice Frank
Affiliation:
Capital Regional District of Victoria Regional Parks
Jenny A. Glikman
Affiliation:
Institute for Conservation Research, San Diego Zoo Global
Silvio Marchini
Affiliation:
Universidade de São Paulo
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Summary

Elephants in Kenya are not confined to national parks and reserves; hence interactions between farmers and crop-raiding elephants can pose serious social, political, economical and conservation problems. African elephants are aware about, and will actively avoid, the threat of African honey bees. Not only do they run away from disturbed bee sounds but elephants emit a unique low frequency rumble that warns other elephants in the area to retreat. These behavioural discoveries encouraged us to develop and test protective Beehive Fences around farmers’ fields with the aim of reducing human–elephant conflict (HEC). Besides reducing damaging crop-raids, the bees are also helping to pollinate the fields, and farmers are now harvesting valuable 'Elephant-Friendly Honey' as an additional value-added product from their land. The Beehive Fence HEC mitigation concept has spread rapidly and Beehive Fences are presently up and running in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana, Mozambique, India and Sri Lanka and have now been incorporated into Kenya’s 2012–21 management strategy for elephant conservation in the country.

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