“You must be very quiet,” said Raju’s mother.
But the crocodiles heard them anyway and started snapping.”
from Soon
written by Timothy Knapman
illustrated by Patrick Benson
Candlewick, 2015
accessed on YouTube 11/24/25
In today’s quote, Mama elephant chased away a crocodile, a snake, and a tiger, as she protected her baby on their long walk. Fear is a common emotion. Uncomfortable, yes, for sure, but also common. In reality, an elephant’s enormous size gives it a huge advantage over most of the animals in its environment. Elephants don’t show fear very often.
But surprisingly (for me, at least) they *are* afraid of bees.
In 2007, Dr. Lucy King from the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford began publishing research results showing that when they are confronted by the sound of angry bees, elephants ran away. Within 10 seconds.
In 2018, experts reported that it’s not only the sound, but the scent of alarmed bees that drive away the elephants. Scientists experimented with socks laced with the scent of alarmed bee pheromones. The socks repelled the elephants.
At Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa, the theory that bees frighten elephants is being tested. Bee boxes are placed in large trees to protect them from being pushed over by elephants. The results of a similar experiment in Greater Kruger National Park (also in South Africa) showed that in a whole calendar year only one tree of the fifty fitted out with bee boxes was damaged.
Dr. King work continues.
The Elephants and Bees Project is a collaboration between Save the Elephants, Oxford University, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The project suggests that several factors are playing together to the detriment of elephants, bees, farmers, and Earth, itself.
In Africa and Asia, human farmers are expanding into areas which had traditionally been elephant territory. As agriculture spreads, HEC (Human Elephant Conflict) is becoming more prevalent and more dangerous for humans and elephants. And more lethal for both species, too.
Elephants are tempted by the newly planted crops on land where they previously foraged, so they raid the crops of Kenyan farmers. One family of elephants can destroy a human family’s farm for a whole year in just one raid!
Also, the bee population in Africa is declining as it is in the rest of the world.
And elephants are afraid of bees.
If bees could be convinced to live on the periphery of the farmers’ fields, they could thrive in their new hives while protecting the crops from elephants.
And the farmers could learn apiculture and sell honey as another income stream.
And it’s working!
David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, known as DSWT, explains how. “…[we build] individual fences around an entire property, … [T]hirty four beehives were installed in two farms in Kyusiani village (in Kenya). [A] series of hives alternating with dummy hives are suspended between posts and attached to the next in line with a wire. When an elephant walks into the fence it shakes the wires and the bees from the nearest hive attack the offending elephant, who walks away in the other direction suffering some discomfort but no serious harm.
“Dr. Lucy King reports an 80% success rate (out of every 10 attempts for elephants to get through these fences, only 2 are successful). Furthermore, the elephants that do break through are predominantly lone bulls and do considerably less damage than an entire family herd of elephants.”
Another added benefit is better communication between villagers. They are much more likely to report poaching, protecting the elephants while their own livelihoods are also protected.
According to ScienceDirect.com, studies in cross-species neuroscience show that basic emotional systems appear in all mammal species and possibly other animals, too. By analyzing the emotional networks of mammalian brains, we discover the amazing “empirical evidence that other animals do, in fact, experience their emotions.”
Turns out animals (and plants, but that’s a whole different “can of worms”) are sentient beings.
When humans feel fear, we react with one of four responses. Fight/Flight or Freeze/Fawn are two sets of opposite behaviors we exhibit without even thinking.
In fight mode we become adversarial or confrontational. Fights can be verbal or physical. On the other hand, flight happens when adrenaline kicks in and we run, or lift the bumper off a person who’s just been run over.
The fawn response triggers trying to be overly helpful. The primary concern is to stop the other individual’s behavior. This is often the reaction of a victim to their abuser.
The freeze response is that “deer in the headlights” look. It’s marked by a feeling of dread, a pounding heart, and feeling heavy, cold, and unmovable.
The flight response is the one exhibited by elephants when confronted by bees. Good for the elephants, good for the bees, good for the farmers, and good (ultimately) for Earth.
I started reading The Names by Florence Knapp (Pamela Dorman Books/Viking, 2025). The premise is interesting. When a baby is born and a name bestowed, how does that name influence his development as a human? In a complex but very readable novel, Knapp names the same baby in the same family with similar dynamics, with three very different names. Then shows her readers what unfolds.
I was surprised by the graphic emotional violence and the extreme reactions of the individual family members. The story is gripping, but gripped me a little too roughly. I protected my own emotions by returning it without finishing it.
Be(e) curious! (and aware of your emotions)
But the crocodiles heard them anyway and started snapping.”
from Soon
written by Timothy Knapman
illustrated by Patrick Benson
Candlewick, 2015
accessed on YouTube 11/24/25
In today’s quote, Mama elephant chased away a crocodile, a snake, and a tiger, as she protected her baby on their long walk. Fear is a common emotion. Uncomfortable, yes, for sure, but also common. In reality, an elephant’s enormous size gives it a huge advantage over most of the animals in its environment. Elephants don’t show fear very often.
But surprisingly (for me, at least) they *are* afraid of bees.
In 2007, Dr. Lucy King from the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford began publishing research results showing that when they are confronted by the sound of angry bees, elephants ran away. Within 10 seconds.
In 2018, experts reported that it’s not only the sound, but the scent of alarmed bees that drive away the elephants. Scientists experimented with socks laced with the scent of alarmed bee pheromones. The socks repelled the elephants.
At Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa, the theory that bees frighten elephants is being tested. Bee boxes are placed in large trees to protect them from being pushed over by elephants. The results of a similar experiment in Greater Kruger National Park (also in South Africa) showed that in a whole calendar year only one tree of the fifty fitted out with bee boxes was damaged.
Dr. King work continues.
The Elephants and Bees Project is a collaboration between Save the Elephants, Oxford University, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The project suggests that several factors are playing together to the detriment of elephants, bees, farmers, and Earth, itself.
In Africa and Asia, human farmers are expanding into areas which had traditionally been elephant territory. As agriculture spreads, HEC (Human Elephant Conflict) is becoming more prevalent and more dangerous for humans and elephants. And more lethal for both species, too.
Elephants are tempted by the newly planted crops on land where they previously foraged, so they raid the crops of Kenyan farmers. One family of elephants can destroy a human family’s farm for a whole year in just one raid!
Also, the bee population in Africa is declining as it is in the rest of the world.
And elephants are afraid of bees.
If bees could be convinced to live on the periphery of the farmers’ fields, they could thrive in their new hives while protecting the crops from elephants.
And the farmers could learn apiculture and sell honey as another income stream.
And it’s working!
David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, known as DSWT, explains how. “…[we build] individual fences around an entire property, … [T]hirty four beehives were installed in two farms in Kyusiani village (in Kenya). [A] series of hives alternating with dummy hives are suspended between posts and attached to the next in line with a wire. When an elephant walks into the fence it shakes the wires and the bees from the nearest hive attack the offending elephant, who walks away in the other direction suffering some discomfort but no serious harm.
“Dr. Lucy King reports an 80% success rate (out of every 10 attempts for elephants to get through these fences, only 2 are successful). Furthermore, the elephants that do break through are predominantly lone bulls and do considerably less damage than an entire family herd of elephants.”
Another added benefit is better communication between villagers. They are much more likely to report poaching, protecting the elephants while their own livelihoods are also protected.
According to ScienceDirect.com, studies in cross-species neuroscience show that basic emotional systems appear in all mammal species and possibly other animals, too. By analyzing the emotional networks of mammalian brains, we discover the amazing “empirical evidence that other animals do, in fact, experience their emotions.”
Turns out animals (and plants, but that’s a whole different “can of worms”) are sentient beings.
When humans feel fear, we react with one of four responses. Fight/Flight or Freeze/Fawn are two sets of opposite behaviors we exhibit without even thinking.
In fight mode we become adversarial or confrontational. Fights can be verbal or physical. On the other hand, flight happens when adrenaline kicks in and we run, or lift the bumper off a person who’s just been run over.
The fawn response triggers trying to be overly helpful. The primary concern is to stop the other individual’s behavior. This is often the reaction of a victim to their abuser.
The freeze response is that “deer in the headlights” look. It’s marked by a feeling of dread, a pounding heart, and feeling heavy, cold, and unmovable.
The flight response is the one exhibited by elephants when confronted by bees. Good for the elephants, good for the bees, good for the farmers, and good (ultimately) for Earth.
I started reading The Names by Florence Knapp (Pamela Dorman Books/Viking, 2025). The premise is interesting. When a baby is born and a name bestowed, how does that name influence his development as a human? In a complex but very readable novel, Knapp names the same baby in the same family with similar dynamics, with three very different names. Then shows her readers what unfolds.
I was surprised by the graphic emotional violence and the extreme reactions of the individual family members. The story is gripping, but gripped me a little too roughly. I protected my own emotions by returning it without finishing it.
Be(e) curious! (and aware of your emotions)
RSS Feed