Since 2016, Dr. Babu Narendran, founder of a private school and hospital in Masinagudi in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), has had numerous negative interactions with elephants around his school.
After trying to erect electric fences, installing bee boxes and a number of other solutions to stop elephants from entering the premises, he has now turned to a new technology developed by a private company that reproduces the sounds of aggravated bees to trick the elephants into quickly leaving the area.
Known as ‘Elrepel box’, the technology uses the sound of bees to create a “digital beehive,” that its pioneers hope will be able to repel elephants, without the need for physical barriers to protect private property.
Thomas Saverimuthu, founder of ELREPEL, told The Hindu he had come up with the idea for the box when he heard of the devastation to property caused by elephants in human-animal interface areas in the Nilgiris.
After teaming up with wildlife scientist Marisa Rodrigues, who is the CEO of the company, the ELREPEL box was developed, says Mr. Saverimuthu. “In parts of Africa, where I used to work, bee boxes, with living bee colonies, were installed to deter African elephants from entering fields and human habitations. While the bee boxes were very effective in most cases, there were some problems that we faced with this model which included the bees sometimes abandoning the boxes while there were chances that people themselves might sometimes get stung by the bees,” said Ms. Rodrigues.
“Though bee boxes are known to work very effectively in discouraging elephants from entering an area, there are many variables attached to such systems, such as bees colonising the boxes not being preyed on, and even that they have a certain level of aggression towards intruding elephants at any particular time for it to work,” added Ms. Rodrigues.
The “acoustic deterrent” has been designed to do away with these variables, and also by keeping in mind the intelligence of elephants, said Matthew Jordan, Chief Development Officer of ELREPEL. The animals in the landscape have been observed consistently figuring out solutions to traverse human obstacles, including the challenges of crossing “elephant-proof” fences, that are eventually overcome over a period of time. The makers of the ELREPEL box believe that they have found the solution by building solutions into the system that will trick elephants into leaving the area.
“The boxes are capable of playing different recordings of bees, as well as other animals including dogs, with the recordings only being played once the animal is sensed by an infrared camera fitted to the device,” said Mr. Jordan. The system could also double-up as an early-warning system for people residing in the area.
“If only a recording of bees is played constantly, elephants could figure out quite quickly that there is no threat, but the fact that the system only becomes active under certain conditions will mean that the elephants will face more of a struggle figuring it out,” said Mr. Saverimuthu. “The device is also built with day-light censors that will ensure that the device becomes active at night,” he added.
While the technology is relatively cheaper than the other conventional elephant-deterrents like electrified fences, the makers of the ELREPEL box admit that it would need to be used alongside other methods to negate negative human-elephant interactions.
“The goal of using the box, alongside other techniques, like growing crops that elephants dislike, such as chilli plants along the boundaries of a property is that it serves as a deterrent and part of a much larger, multi-pronged strategy to prevent negative human-animal interactions in the region,” said Ms. Rodrigues.
The developers of the ELREPEL box hope that if the technology proves successful, that it could be less disruptive to wildlife with habitats overlapping those of elephants. They believe that in an ideal situation, the technology, while stopping elephants, will allow for the movement of other smaller wildlife using the same pathways without hindrances due to the lack of physical barriers stopping their movement.
