Elephants run from bee soundsLUCY KING, OXFORD UNIVERSITY
Bee gatekeepers
Elephants may not actually be afraid of mice, but they are terrified of bees. Now, a team of researchers has taken advantage of this phobia to protect the crops of Kenyan farmers. In a test run published in the current issue of The African Journal of Ecology, scientists installed 1,700 meters of fences along the boundaries of 17 farms in Northern Kenya with a beehive situated every 10 meters and compared that to 1,700 meters of neighboring farm boundaries protected only by thorn tree fences. Over two years, the beehive fence far surpassed the thorn fence in elephant deterrence: only one elephant broke through the beehive fence, while 31 elephants crashed through the thorn fence. (Hat tip to ScienceNOW.)
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