Beehive “Fences” Protect Farms from Elephants and Elephants from Firebombing Farmers
Instead of throwing firebombs at them, some African farmers are now using beehive “fences” to keep elephants from trampling their crops and getting free honey and pollination services while they’re at it
In Africa, one of the biggest pests farmers face is elephants.
As the giant animals lose more and more of their habitat to agriculture, they inadvertently wander onto farm fields, trampling and/or eating the crops.
Farmers often respond by shooting, poisoning or even firebombing the majestic, endangered creatures.
A zoologist has come up with a less lethal method of keeping elephants at bay.
Apparently, the world’s largest land mammal is terrified of bees.
Just the sound of them buzzing has them running for cover.
Oxford zoologist Lucy King used that knowledge to come up with a plan to save the elephants and the crops.
She’s invented a beehive fence made up of beehives and ‘dummy’ beehives interlinked with a wire that causes the whole fence to swing and release the bees when bumped, CNN reports.
It’s a much cheaper alternative to an electric fence, but works in a similar way.
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