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Submission + - Bee Barrier Buzzing Defends Against Elephants

Hugh Pickens writes writes: "We all know how dangerous angry bees can be but now BBC reports that Dr Lucy King has put their stingers to good use with a clever contrivance that won the Unep/CMS Thesis Prize at the Convention on Migratory Species — a beehive barrier whose buzzing scares elephants away from African farmers' fields and villages. Working in Kenya, King showed that more than 90% of elephants will flee when they hear the sounds of buzzing bees as adults can be stung around their eyes or inside their trunks, while calves can potentially be killed by a swarm of stinging bees as they have yet to develop a thick protective skin. King's insight was to incorporate beehives into a fence (video), keeping the elephants away from places where people live and grow food. "Dr King's work spotlights an intelligent solution to an age-old challenge," reads the award, "while providing further confirmation of the importance of bees to people and a really clever way of conserving the world's largest land animal for current and future generations.""

Bee Barrier Buzzing Defends Against Elephants

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