Demographic analysis of behavioral reactions of African bush elephants to a synthetic honey bee alarm pheromone blend

Human–elephant conflict situations continue to be a growing conservation issue. Conflict situations typically arise as the result of elephants traversing places with infrastructure where they become disruptive to human activities. Developing passive options for managing elephant movement and reducing human–elephant conflict situations is a conservation priority. In this paper, we report elephant responses to a synthetic honey bee alarm pheromone blend, and the relationship between strength and frequency of deterrence responses from elephants. We show that a blend of isoamyl acetate, 2‐heptanol, and 2‐nonanol, volatile chemicals known to stimulate honey bee vigilance, defence, and mass attack, produced stronger repellence than isoamyl acetate alone, or blended with 2‐heptanol. Subadult elephants, irrespective of sex, were the demographic group most likely to show deterrence responses to the alarm blends. In some cases, entire herds of elephants were repelled from alarm pheromone treatments placed at waterholes, suggesting that the method has potential for manipulation of elephant movements on a landscape. Integration of synthetic honey bee alarm pheromones with other elephant behavioral management tools is discussed.