Elephants are scared around bees

My son befriended one of the leading African elephant researchers who is now one of the big wigs at Disney's Animal Kingdom. When we met him, he explained how researchers used this knowledge to teach African villages how to become beekeepers. Elephants would often trample their crops or other areas of the village, so they taught them how to keep bees around the perimeter of the village. The elephants stay away and the villagers are able to use the honey, etc. as a trade. The net result was fewer elephants were being killed and the villagers gained a new skill.

There is a great TED talk, How bees can keep the peace between elephants and humans<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ted.com&#x2F;talks&#x2F;lucy_king_how_bees_can_keep_the_peace_between_elephants_and_humans" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ted.com&#x2F;talks&#x2F;lucy_king_how_bees_can_keep_the_pe...</a>

More than once I had flies flying full speed into my nose and get trapped there! If I was an elephant with a nose bigger than a Henry hover sucking stinging flies I would be scared too!

<i>But when bees swarm—and African bees swarm aggressively—hundreds of bees might sting an elephant in its most sensitive areas, like the trunk, the mouth, and eyes.</i><p>It would be nice if they could form a mutual relationship with honey badgers that don&#x27;t care how many times they&#x27;re stung.<p>Except therein lies the problem, honey badgers don&#x27;t care about anything.

Just a few days ago, a 27-year old elephant died at the St. Louis Zoo when a dog got loose outside his enclosure. The elephant was inside but heard the alarms of the other elephants which caused it to panic and have heart failure.

There’s a brief mention of a study that found that “merely playing recordings of angry bees through speakers in the field was enough to cause the elephants to flee” but it seems like that would be a far cheaper solution than putting actual beehives all over the border.

Do elephants ever get anaphylactic shock from bee stings, or have allergy to bee stings (ie a much more severe reaction). Perhaps it&#x27;s a cargo-cult type learning?

Dogs too, apparently <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=37948121">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=37948121</a>

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.ph&#x2F;BVhkz" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.ph&#x2F;BVhkz</a>

They&#x27;re just like us

This makes me laugh out loud because a buddy of mine, while I was visiting family in Europe, mentioned there&#x27;s a song, &quot;how big is the heart in that bumble bee, that he can steer an ox clear out of the shade.&quot;

&gt; dry seasons, too, can dampen bee populations in hives as they flee and search for moister climes.<p>This seems unlikely. The bees likely died. Bees don’t just leave their brood and fly off.

African bees are super mean and aggressive. I’d be afraid also.

If I had a nose large enough for a bunch of bees to fly up and sting, I would be very interested in avoiding bees too.

So are humans, I guess it makes sense.

The more you know!

same

My cats have been bitten by various insects more than once and are still not at all &quot;scaredy&quot; around them.

I bet any kid across the world would be able to guess the result of Dominique&#x27;s theories about bees and elephants .<p>&quot;Mom, that lady at the party today, doesn&#x27;t she already know the answer? Does she really get paid for that?&quot;