Gorongosa 2024-FULL-FINAL - Flipbook - Page 43
E NV I RO NM ENT
|
GORONGOSA SP ECIAL
COURTES Y OF GO RONGO S A N AT IONA L PAR K / TREASURING
sheeting or long rectangular boxes full of bees. Some ropes had nothing
hanging from them but were coated with foul-smelling creosote.
Each variation, Jantar explained, is thought to dissuade elephants, buffaloes, and hippos from entering human territory. The bits of metal trick
the elephants into believing there’s a larger barrier and the creosote smell
is thought to be a deterrent. But the bee boxes are the most interesting and
most promising approach. Researcher Dominique Gonçalves, who is finishing up her doctorate at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom and
is the manager of the park’s elephant ecology project, said that the idea is
simple but effective.
“It actually comes from an African folktale that elephants are afraid of
bees, but it was actually observed and proved and tested again and peer
reviewed and everything,” she said. If an elephant should try to pass, it
would shake the hive, which is suspended in the air, and the African honeybees would emerge and attack. Some elephants don’t even need to be
stung but are scared off just by the buzz and hum of a beehive.
PEACEMAKER Marcelino
Denja manages Gorongosa
National Park’s team of rangers,
who react to animal intrusions
into nearby communities and
create strategies to reduce the
conflicts between the people
and animals.
41
