Bees Are Playing an Important Role in Saving Tanzania’s Elephants
These beehives play an important role in mitigating human-elephant interactions.
The relationship between elephants and humans is complex. Elephants must not only contend with the threat of poaching, but also the rapid development and expansion of human settlements, often at the cost of their habitat. While land rights are negotiated between communities and the authorities of protected areas, elephants often cross these abstract borders.
For farmers close to the protected forests in the Kilombero Valley, it is not uncommon to wake up and find their fields foraged by these and other large mammals. This often leads to crop losses that carry serious economic consequences for farmers. Plus, defending farms and homesteads from damage sometimes results in retaliatory wildlife killings, particularly of elephants that break fences and trample farms as they consume crops.
African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) and the Southern Tanzania Elephant Program joined forces to come up with a cost-effective and sustainable solution to mitigate human-elephant conflict.
The answer? Bees. Specifically, the African honey bee.
Along a border of the park where elephants are known to cross into farmland, an innovative fence with built-in beehives was installed. The beehives are placed at 10-meter intervals along the fence. When disturbed by an elephant trying to cross into farmland, the beehives swing, working up the bees. Since elephants are not fond of bees, these fences are an effective way to deter elephants from invading farms and trampling crops.
The bees also create eco-friendly honey and wax, a nice bonus that farmers can sell with their now-secured crops for additional revenue. Best of all, studies assessing the extent of human-elephant conflict in the area have found that retaliatory killings of elephants stand at zero since the fences have been installed.
Your support helps us make a difference for some of Africa’s most vulnerable species, such as elephants. To learn how you can support our work today and into the future, contact the Legacy Giving Team at legacygifts@awf.org or 202 939 3333.
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