Elephants are scared around bees
nautil.us
Elephants are scared around bees
1–10 of 108 posts
Re: Elephants are scared around bees
#2More 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!
Re: Elephants are scared around bees
#3But 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.
It would be nice if they could form a mutual relationship with honey badgers that don't care how many times they're stung.
Except therein lies the problem, honey badgers don't care about anything.
Re: Elephants are scared around bees
#4There is a great TED talk, How bees can keep the peace between elephants and humans
https://www.ted.com/talks/lucy_king_how_bees_can_keep_the_pe...
Re: Elephants are scared around bees
#5I bet any kid across the world would be able to guess the result of Dominique's theories about bees and elephants .
"Mom, that lady at the party today, doesn't she already know the answer? Does she really get paid for that?"
Re: Elephants are scared around bees
#6Dogs too, apparently https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37948121
Re: Elephants are scared around bees
#7But 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. It would be nice if they could form a mutual relationship with honey badgers that don't care how many times they're stung. Except therein lies the problem, honey badgers don't care about anything.
Except honey?
Re: Elephants are scared around bees
#8Do elephants ever get anaphylactic shock from bee stings, or have allergy to bee stings (ie a much more severe reaction). Perhaps it's a cargo-cult type learning?
Re: Elephants are scared around bees
#9My 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.
Re: Elephants are scared around bees
#10So are humans, I guess it makes sense.