Farmers are finding an innovative way to deter elephants from invading their crops by using bees as unexpected allies. As agriculture expands, farmland increasingly overlaps with elephant habitats, which can lead to dangerous interactions between elephants and people. In Kenya, after years of research, scientists have developed a simple yet clever solution: beehive fences.
This approach is inspired by the longstanding local belief that elephants dislike beehives. These buzzing barriers effectively minimize confrontations between farmers and elephants while providing a gentle deterrent. Beehive fences are spreading globally, with implementations reported from Mozambique to Thailand.
So, what exactly is it about bees that elephants find so off-putting? And can they genuinely help maintain peace in this increasingly crowded world?
"It's ingenious. You have a natural method to keep these animals away from farms,” says Graeme Shannon.
Human-elephant conflict is rising in several regions. In Kenya, where population growth and resource demands are escalating, human settlements increasingly encroach on elephant territories. With some elephant populations recovering, this overlap heightens the risk of conflict. Greta Francesca Iori, an advisor on elephant conservation and human-elephant conflict from Ethiopia, explains, "The expansion of agricultural land, logging, urbanization, and the fragmentation of elephant habitats are forcing elephants into human settlements in search of food and water. Wherever there are elephants, there are reports of human-elephant conflict."
In Kenya, a new kind of fence made of beehives is keeping elephants at bay. Wildlife ecologist Graeme Shannon, who has studied African elephants for two decades, observes that the people living in these areas often come from poorer backgrounds, making farming vital for their survival.
Elephants are drawn to water and the nutritious crops that humans cultivate, bringing them into conflict with people. Emmanuel Mwamba, a farmer from Mwakoma, Kenya, near the frontlines of this conflict, shares, "People invest a lot of time and effort into nurturing their land, and then elephants come just as the crops are nearing maturity. When elephants arrive, everything is destroyed." He adds, "Some of us rely on crops for our livelihood. Imagine losing all of that overnight."
Encounters between farmers and elephants can have fatal consequences. Farmers have died while trying to protect their crops from hungry elephants, and elephants may be killed by humans defending their harvests.
To reduce these conflicts, scientists and locals have investigated various deterrent methods over several decades, including electric fences, watchtowers, solar spotlights, chili-greased bricks, elephant repellents, and frightening noises – each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
However, employing bees to scare away elephants has emerged as a particularly effective and beneficial tool, providing numerous advantages for farmers.
Mwamba mentions, "We started with two beehive fences. Now, we have 700 hives covering three villages. This is a positive development for the community."
The idea began in the early 2000s when Fritz Vollrath, an ecologist at the University of Oxford and chairman of the charity Save the Elephants, along with Iain Douglas-Hamilton, the charity's founder, learned of a folklore story from Kenyan pastoralists. They heard that trees in areas with beehives were not damaged by elephants.
Inspired by this tale, Vollrath and Douglas-Hamilton collaborated with Lucy King, co-existence director at Save the Elephants, to scientifically investigate whether bees could effectively deter elephants. Their research concluded in 2007 that elephants indeed avoid trees with wild African honeybee hives and communicate with each other to stay away from these areas. King notes, "We know that elephants can get stung, and they never forget that."
King then designed a protective tool for farmers: a fence made of beehives. She first tested this concept in 2008 in Laikipia, Kenya, where elephant crop raids were commonplace. The beehive fence surrounds a farm, with hives placed every 10 meters (33 feet) between two posts. Using natural attractants like beeswax and lemongrass oil, African honeybees naturally colonize the beehives.
"For one acre (0.4 hectares) of farmland, you need 24 beehives," King explains. However, only 12 of these are real; the others are dummy hives, made from lighter materials to distract elephants.
