Heard the one about the elephant and the ant? 2
19th Jul 2009
Hello lovely people
And then there is the interesting fact that elephants are very afraid of bees. At first glance you would think this is probably an urban myth. There is no way a bee can scare an elephant or get through the thick skin of an elephant, right? An elephant skin is about 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick and there is no way that a bee’s sting can penetrate that, right? Right. But the elephant’s skin is as thin as paper behind the ears, by the eye, on the abdomen, chest and shoulders. And can you imagine how a bee sting could hurt in an elephant’s trunk when they have no way to remove that tiny sting once it is nestled in the elephant’s trunk.
Bees seem to know that, and elephants have discovered this the hard way. Elephants have learnt to stay very far away from bees. An elephant will never eat from a tree that has a bee colony in it – they would not even go near the tree. The elephants can smell bee hives (even empty hives) from a distance and will do anything to avoid the hives.
What probably adds to the fear of the elephants is that when a bee stings, it releases alarm pheromones. When this happens, other bees in the area are attracted and they continue the attack. And getting under water to fool the bees only helps while you are under water. When you surface, the bees will smell the pheromones again and continue with their attack.
Farmers in Kenia are using this fear of bees to control elephants and protect their crops. The farmers had in the past lost many crops through marauding elephants. In recent years, the farmers simply put empty bee-hives at a distance of a few feet apart around their fields. They discovered that the elephants will not even come near enough the fields to confirm that the bee hives are empty.
So, even the mighty elephant has its weak spots and its own fears. I wish I had known that when I had to deal with corporate elephants and others who walked over me when I was emotionally vulnerable. An old dog is never too old to learn new tricks.
Announcement: I will be holding a workshop titled Coping with Widowhood – A Spiritual Approach on 19 September 2009. Refer here for details.
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Love and Light
Elsabe
