Double mission accomplished

But the interest of Steeve Ngama's study doesn't stop there. The fact of having – also – regularly quantified honey production in the experimental hives demonstrates that this traditional "function" of the bee is, under certain conditions, perfectly compatible with its effectiveness as an elephant deterrent. "Above 70 bee movements a minute (level of absolute efficiency because, beyond that, almost no elephant activity was recorded), the hives don't produce any honey, or very little", the PhD student from Gabon explains. "The best harvest (more than 3 kilos) occurred in the 30 to 60 movement per minute range, i.e. at a level where the bees are already a deterrent to the elephants. That said, we did have to deal with certain parasites attacking the hives, which had an effect on honey production. However encouraging, these results are still in the initial stages and there is a lot more work to be done".

Besides studying the data more extensively, the main issue now is the potential introduction of organised beekeeping – as a source of income – in these regions. Is it possible or not? Is it desirable or not? As regards the second question, the answer is already clear. "Many villagers, in Gabon, are interested in beekeeping programmes", Cédric Vermeulen says. "It's important to point out that the collection of "wild" honey today is very dangerous, and causes the systematic destruction of the colonies. Of course, several ethnic groups - Pygmies, in particular – have made a speciality of searching for honey. However, even though they protect themselves with leaves and smoke, the climber must climb some 10 or 15 metres; they are continuously at risk of being stung and falling, and they have to plunge their hands in the hole in the tree occupied by the insects to attempt to reach the honey! Moreover, the swarms are difficult to find in the forest. Beekeeping is less dangerous for both humans and bee colonies. Above all, it's an interesting alternative to poaching and an appreciable source of income for village populations". 

A rather short-tempered bee

As for the feasibility of the such programmes, the first systems are already on trial in Gabon, in the Crystal Mountains National Park to be exact. They are looked after by zootechnic teams from local research institutes and are also supported by private firms who supply the equipment. "With this type of approach, we're at the intersection of two mutually-enriching disciplines: zootechnics (breeding a little-known species of bee), supervised by Professor Jérôme Bindelle, co-supervisor of the thesis, and conservation biology (the protection of the forest elephant); with the improvement of the inhabitants' living standards as a backdrop. There are still a lot of things to understand – and that's what Steeve Ngama's doing for the moment, now he's back in Gabon. For instance: what's the physiological condition of the elephants the most attracted by the crops (by analysing their excrement and hormone levels)? What are the most attractive factors, in the crops, for the animals: the actual crops, the wild plant species or the fruit in the trees growing wildly around the cultivated plots? What would be the optimum amount of hives likely to constitute a truly effective barrier against the incursions? We could also test the sensitivity of the forest elephant to different sound frequencies, in order to better understand what's bothering it or what aspect of the bees' presence serves as a warning..." 

Hence, many issues to be solved before moving onto wide-scale concrete operations. We must also remember that Apis mellifera adansonii isn't ready to be domesticated, however charming the animal researchers or the villagers concerned. Mentioned by Steeve Ngama in his works (1), one anecdote says a lot about its tenacity when receiving an unexpected visit from a human. "The bees that were disturbed during the collection of honey (editor's note: from the test hives) continued to attack the invaders some thirty minutes later up to a distance of 200 metres from the hive", the expert tells us. "Some of them even went further and pursued us right into our vehicles". Thus, it is recommended that if a highly active hive is opened during the day, all domestic animals and humans must be evacuated within a radius of... 250 to 500 metres. In Africa, with this type of hymenopteran, it is better to approach these elephant hunters at night...

(1) These were published in May 2016 in Plos One, under the title "How Bees Deter Elephants: Beehive Trials with Forest Elephants (Loxodonta africana cyclotis) in Gabon". Steeve Ngama, Lisa Korte, Jérôme Bindelle, Cédric Vermeulen, John R.Poulsen.