Unlike smaller mammals, African elephants have few predators in the wild. These mammals stride majestically through Africa’s forests, grassy plains, and bushlands. Although much is known about the animal, little research has been conducted in the field elephant calls. For example, African elephants are known to roar in the presence of lions. Recent evidence has also showed that these elephants tend to avoid contact with African honeybees. Elephants were observed avoiding trees with honeybees. A recently published article, analyzes the behavior of African elephants in response to bee sounds.
Researchers recently found that the sound of African honeybees causes African elephants to produce warning calls. These warning calls result in the elephants retreating. Researchers first played clips of bee sounds. This elicited a distinct rumble alarm sound from the elephants followed by a retreat. In second experiment, researchers played the rumble alarm sound to a group of elephants. Afterwards, the elephants retreated from their position.
Researchers are still trying to figure out if this alarm call is only in response to bees. It possible that through hundreds of years of interacting with one another, that the elephants have developed a specific call for bees. Analysis on the rumbling sound has yielded a few theories on the sound itself. Scientists propose that the sound may serve to knock the bees out of the air, and even serve as a learning tool to teach the young about prey. Further testing may prove useful in determining the effects of using beehives to deter elephants that raid crops.
Posted by: Himanshu Shah (3)
Wow, this is pretty interesting. It would never occur to me that elephants might have an alarm call for bees. Is there a difference between the sounds of African honeybees and other honeybees, and if so are the elephants able to distinguish between them?
ReplyDeletePosted by Dana Mirsky
Out of the possible predators and animals to avoid, honeybees would have never been the first ones to come to mind! Do we know how common honeybees are in this environment? Are there a lot of trees with them? Knowing how often elephants encounter them could possibly help answer the question as to whether the alarm call is distinct for bees.
ReplyDeletePosted by Katie Kalutkiewicz
I wonder if baby elephants are innately scared of bees, or if they learn from their parents that bees are dangerous and to avoid them. If elephants were reared elephants in isolation and exposed to honeybees, I wonder if they would make the alarm call regardless of their lack of further exposure to bees or other adults.
ReplyDelete- Amanda Grafstein
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ReplyDeleteI wonder if the elephants use warning calls for other threats. If so I wonder if they use the same warning call for the other threats as they do for the bees.
ReplyDeletePosted by Charles Carville
Elephants really raid crops? This is very interesting. Do the elephants flee because the bees are dangerous to them..like poisonous? I didn't know elephants would be able to hear the call of the bees or realize which trees they were in.
ReplyDelete-Katie Cyr
Hey guys thanks for reading my blog and coming up with some interesting questions.
ReplyDeleteDana
I believe in this article that African honey bees refer to a generic honey bee that's found in Africa. African bees are very similar to their European and American honey bee counterparts but the African bees usually produce more offspring and defend their territory more fiercely. Therefore, the African bees are the bees that African elephant will encounter most of the time. Like I said, however, researchers are still trying to figure out if this alarm call is strictly for honey bees or other threats as well.
Kaite
Thank you for your question. Researchers first observed elephants avoiding bees during field observations which in turn prompted this study. It is interesting that elephants try to avoid all encounters with the bees. These are animals the elephants have encountered for years so may be there some evolutionary time point where elephants were more interactive with the bees, and this lessened over time. Elephants love to walk around grazing and eating, encountering many trees and shrubbery.
Amanda
You make a very good point. A point of discussion in the article was whether or not this alarm call as used to train the youngsters of possible more dangerous threats. Researcher hypothesized that this may be a learning mechanism but more studies need to be conducted to obtain more conclusive data on whether or not this is an innate behavior.
Charles
This is precisely what the researchers are trying to discover through further testing. They are not sure whether this is a general alarm call or an alarm call that has developed over the years specific to honey bees.
Katie
Yes, elephants do raid crops in Africa. There is a two fold problem. As elephant populations grow and more land is cleared for agricultural and living purposes, elephants and humans have begun clashing. We are still not entirely sure why the elephants flee from, and researchers are trying to understand this relationship. Since elephants do not have too strong sense of sight, hearing may play a larger role in their interactions and how they deal with the world.
-Himanshu