Elephants can fear loud noises, sudden movements, unfamiliar objects, and some predators if alone, such as lions and tigers. They can also be scared of unfamiliar people and environments. However, due to their size and group instincts, it takes a lot to scare an elephant.
African Elephants And Bees
Did you know African elephants are afraid of bees? They often create swarms of hundreds of bees and attack elephants when they get too close to their hive. The swarm attacks as a single unit and delivers hundreds of stings in just a few seconds.
Can African honeybees kill an elephant?
There is no doubt that the attacks of the African honey bee can quickly kill people. The lethal dose for a human adult is 500 stings at any time. However, most people often wonder whether these honey bees can kill such massive animals as an elephant.
Yes, enough stings at any one time from African honey bees can kill an elephant if it gets close to the beehive.
African elephants have slowly learned to avoid browsing on trees that have beehives in them.
What do the elephants do when they are getting stung?
According to the witnesses, the elephants run away as fast as possible in such situations.
Elephants also know the sound of angry bees and often run in the other direction, even without seeing them.
Help From African Honey Bees
Since elephants are scared of the honey bees, local farmers have used the bees to their advantage in places where there is a human-elephant conflict.
Local farms have created fences with human-made beehives to attract the honey bees, which keeps the elephants away.
Using honey bees has reduced the human-elephant conflict in Kenya significantly.
Are elephants afraid of mice?
People often believe that elephants are afraid of mice, but is there any truth behind this?
No, it’s nothing but a myth that television shows and other media have propagated. The tale was that mice would climb up their trunks. However, elephants would blow out the mice if they ever did climb up. You should note that elephants will get scared by anything that moves around their feet fast, irrespective of its size or species.
Are elephants afraid of tigers?
Due to the massive size of the full-grown elephants, tigers do not hunt them as often. However, if the tigers get a chance, they can and will kill elephant babies. That is why elephants always stay wary of tigers but are not afraid.
Are elephants afraid of lions?
Elephants are wary of lions. Apart from humans, lions are the only predators with enough power to kill an Elephant. Even though lions do not take elephants as their natural prey, they are known to stalk and hunt elephants from time to time. It takes the pride of 7 lionesses to take down a fully-grown elephant. Lions are so mighty that a single male lion can quickly overpower and kill a young elephant.
Are elephants afraid of dogs?
There is another belief that elephants do not like dogs. Most of the time, elephants do not mind the dogs’ presence and are not afraid of them.
Some of the elephants are pretty fond of them. Dogs are not afraid of elephants and can stay with them as well.
If elephants and dogs are cohabiting, whenever the elephant Moves, the dogs also move. If that does not happen, the elephant often gently notifies the dogs.
