> From: Lugemwa FN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: ugnet_: Bees keep elephants off crops
> Date: 06 Nov 2002 06:51:19 -0800
>
--Good chemystery! FNL
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Bees keep elephants off crops
John Whitfield
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Beehives could help to protect African farms from damage caused by elephants by stopping them from eating crops, according to new research.
Elephants can destroy whole fields of crops, especially where farmland borders reserves in countries such as Kenya. But they avoid beehives, and researchers have found that even empty hives are enough to reduce elephant damage, probably due to their odour.
In an article in the German journal Naturwissenschaften, researchers say that hives could be deployed like 'biological minefields' around farms, or could be used to protect valuable trees.
Link to Nature Science Updatenews story
Source: Nature Science Update
Photo credit: Kenneth M. Gale, www.forestryimages.org
