Can Bees Stop Elephants From Raiding Crops?

The team made the discovery in an continuing study of elephants in Kenya. "In our experiments we played the sound of angry bees to elephant families and studied their reaction," said Lucy King of Oxford University's zoology department and charity Save the Elephants, who led the research.

"Importantly we discovered elephants not only flee from the buzzing sound but make a unique rumbling call as well as shaking their heads." As well as being a response to threat, the rumble may also be a way of teaching inexperienced young elephants to beware, according to the findings published in the PLoS One journal.

But it is yet to be established whether the rumble call is a response to threats other than from bees.

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