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Elephants’ intense fear of bees may just save their lives.
One of the most common causes of death for Asian elephants in India isn’t poaching (due largely to their smaller tusk size), but train accidents.
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">From 1987 through July 2017, </span><a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/reducing-elephant-train-collisions-india-bee-buzzing-animals-environment/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">266 elephants</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> have been hit by engines in the second most populous country in the world. So far in 2018, 15 elephants were killed on the tracks. Experts think the numbers could be due to more trains, faster trains and/or a burgeoning elephant population, but measures such as warnings and reduced train speeds haven’t necessarily made a measurable impact on mitigating deaths.</span></p><p><div id="action_button_container"></div></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Enter bees. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite their thick skin, both Asian and African elephants are </span><a href="http://www.dw.com/en/tiny-bees-buzz-to-the-rescue-as-elephants-wreak-havoc/a-44287843"><span style="font-weight: 400;">so terrified of bee stings</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that the vast majority will turn to run “within seconds of hearing the sound of buzzing,” scientists </span><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/3309619/Elephants-are-scared-of-bees-scientists-say.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">explain</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. No one is yet exactly sure why that is the case, but organizations in elephant-populated areas have been experimenting for years with using bees and bee sounds to repel pachyderms. </span></p><p><div data-conversation-spotlight=""></div></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Forest Department in India has been using </span><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/a-plan-bee-for-wild-elephants/article24203158.ece"><span style="font-weight: 400;">drones that emit buzzing-bee sounds</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to scare elephants away from neighborhoods, farmland and areas known to be frequented by poachers, and farmers in Africa have installed beehives to keep the elephants from eating their crops. African elephants are reportedly </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/science/bees-elephants-.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">even more afraid of bees</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> than Asian elephants; experts surmise this could be because bees in Asia are less aggressive than those in Africa.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Late last year, rail officials in eastern India began installing devices alongside the train tracks that </span><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/sound-of-bees-to-keep-elephants-off-rail-tracks-creating-a-buzz/articleshow/64110551.cms"><span style="font-weight: 400;">emit bee sounds</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> downloaded from the internet, and it seems to be working: </span><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/sound-of-bees-to-keep-elephants-off-rail-tracks-creating-a-buzz/articleshow/64110551.cms"><span style="font-weight: 400;">This year</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> only six elephants have died from train accidents in the immediate area, compared with 10 at this time in 2017.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We installed this in Rangiya division, and once it was successful we have installed it in other locations as well. This was started barely six months back,” Lokesh Narayan, additional general manager of Northeast Frontier Railway, </span><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/sound-of-bees-to-keep-elephants-off-rail-tracks-creating-a-buzz/articleshow/64110551.cms"><span style="font-weight: 400;">told</span></a> <i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Times of India</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">India’s train system, which dates back to colonial times, covers more than 41,000 miles. In the early 1990s it was converted from meter gauge to broad gauge, which allowed for increased train speeds through 20 of India’s 101 known </span><a href="http://www.wti.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/pub_right_of_passage-1.pdf"><span style="font-weight: 400;">elephant corridors</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> — a deadly combination.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“You can look at it as a demographer or from an emotional viewpoint,” Raman Sukumar, an elephant ecologist at the Indian Institute of Science, </span><a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/reducing-elephant-train-collisions-india-bee-buzzing-animals-environment/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">told</span></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> National Geographic</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. “Train accidents don't make much difference in population. That's a very dispassionate view. But look at the mascot of Indian Railways. It's an elephant. The Railways cannot be killing their own mascot.”</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The question remains among scientists, however, why elephants — which feature the </span><a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/55640/7-behaviors-prove-elephants-are-incredibly-smart"><span style="font-weight: 400;">largest brain</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of any land animal and three times the number of neurons as humans — would not move out of the way of an oncoming train. Most of the accidents happen at night, so it could be that the animals are blinded by the light and/or confused by the noise.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s highly unlikely that they would get stuck in the tracks,” Sukumar </span><a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/reducing-elephant-train-collisions-india-bee-buzzing-animals-environment/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">told</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> National Geographic. “It’s puzzling why this highly intelligent animal would wait on the tracks when it can even feel the vibration of the train’s movement.”</span></p>
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