TIL that Elephants are absolutely terrified of Bees!
You may have heard that elephants are afraid of mice, right? Well that isn't entirely true, however, elephants are absolutely terrified of something even smaller... Yes that is right, a 15,000 pound African Elephant is afraid of a little honey bee that weighs less than 1/10 of a gram!
Why is that?
Well before we dive in, let me talk about what prompted me to research this. It all started a couple days ago when I was doing some work on my parent's swimming pool. Yes, I am their pool boy from time to time ;) As I was cleaning the swimming pool, I noticed there are a few bees that always stop by to get a drink of water from time to time. After all, this is Arizona and there are only so many places a bee can go for a drink.
Well, one thing I noticed is that my dog, "Husker" (yes he is named after the college football team) always runs away any time he hears the "buzz" of a bee. Which is kind of strange because when he sees them flying around he tries to 'bite them out of the air'. Yet, whenever he hears their buzzing sound he freaks out and takes off running in the other direction.
So I did some reading about bees and animals being afraid of them...
Apparently the African Elephant is terrified of the honey bee. Mostly because bees in Africa are of the "killer bee" variety and tend to swarm very easily. The elephant has very thick skin all over its body except for one place, the trunk. Which leaves it vulnerable to bees.
Think of how uncomfortable it is for you when a little bug goes up your nose, well imagine what it must feel like for an elephant if dozens of bees flew up his trunk and started stinging him... probably not the most pleasant feeling in the world.
Scientists have shown that even playing a recording of buzzing bees is enough to make elephants run for the hills.
What is even more interesting is that scientists have actually even detected a warning sound that elephants make to warn other elephants when they hear a buzzing sound. That is unusual because elephants don't really use warning sounds in any other instance... That confirms how deeply afraid these elephants are of bees.
This is actually great news!
The positive from all of this is that scientists are able to use these recordings to alter an elephants behavior. When elephants are getting too close to areas where people are, they simply can play these recordings of buzzing bees and the elephants stay clear. It is safer, cheaper, and more effective than any kind of fencing could be.
This is one instance where we can safely use nature to keep both us and the elephants safe from each other! :)
Live well my friends!
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant
Image Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant
Follow: @jrcornel
Nice article, I watched a documentary about this recently and it just goes to show how smart elephants are as they aren't scared of a lone bee but realize a whole bunch can be dangerous.
Yep, it is amazing how it gets passed down as well... The adults teach the babies to fear that sound.
they are amazing creatures
Yes they are, thank you for reading!
I love elephants, thanks for the wonderful new knowledge.
You got it! Thanks for reading!
Very interesting. Today I learning something new, since I definitely had not heard about this before. Nice.
Looks like we both did! Thanks for reading!
I just had the chance to watch elephants yesterday and today. Those are impressive and beautiful animals! I will post a few pictures soon.
Elephants could actually be very dangerous as when an elephant decides that it wants to go from a point A to a point B, he does it (no matter what is in the middle). Isolated males could also be violent rather easily....
Yep, that is why being able to herd them away from humans simply by playing a recording of bees has so much value...
Wow, that is awesome, I can't want to see your pictures!
Am writing the post at the time we speak. I may submit it on Sunday if time permits :)
I had never even considered something like this. I thought nothing frightened elephants.
Just bees and ants... oh and me ;)
cool. good info
Thank you and thank you for reading!
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Loved the part of how this is being used to keep the elephants away from humans. It can be hard to find effective methods to deter wild animals from their native habitat.