It might seem the epitome of a David versus Goliath mismatch — up to 12 tonnes of heavily armoured mammal flesh versus a few hundred milligrams of irritating insect — but despite their thick skins and size advantage, elephants turn tail and flee at the sound of a swarm of bees, according to research in Kenya.
The scientists who discovered the elephants’ reaction say it could be exploited to keep the animals from raiding crops.
To find out whether the elephants shy away from bees, Oxford University researcher Lucy King set up experiments in which she played recordings of African bee swarms to 18 elephant families.
“It’s hard to put it into words how dramatic this reaction is,” said King. “As soon as the bee sound plays they stop immediately whatever they are doing and turn directly toward the speaker. The younger ones bunch up to their mums in a defensive format. Normally one of the elephants triggers a retreat and the whole herd either runs or walks fast after them.”
King compared the reaction to bee sounds with the elephants’ response to white noise. She reports in Current Biology that only one family did not move after hearing the bees compared with eight who heard the white noise. The response to the bees was quicker, too. Half of the families moved within 10 seconds.
She said elephants can be stung around their eyes or even up their trunks and that a swarm of bees can kill a calf because its skin is not yet thick enough to repel stings. So the animals probably learn through painful experience to avoid the buzzing.
Farmers, she suggested, could use that to protect their crops from elephant raids, although it would probably be necessary to have real bees’ nests rather than recordings because the animals would probably rumble the bluff. She said her findings did not add weight to the notion that elephants are scared of other small animals such as mice. “There’s no evidence whatsoever for that.” — Â