How bees can keep the peace between elephants and humans | Lucy King

翻译人员: Jiasi Hao 校对人员: Coco Shen

Ever since I can remember,

自从我能记事以来，

African elephants have filled me with a sense of complete awe.

非洲大象始终是一个 令我充满敬畏之情的存在。

They are the largest land mammal alive today on planet Earth,

在这颗星球上，它们是 陆地上现存最大的哺乳动物，

体重能达 7 吨，

weighing up to seven tons,

standing three and a half meters tall at the shoulder.

肩高有 3.5 米。

They can eat up to 400 kilos of food in a day,

它们一天可以吃足 400 千克的食物，

而且在它们 50 - 60 年的生命中，

and they disperse vital plant seeds across thousands of kilometers

它们要将非常重要的植物种子 散播到千里外的地方。

during their 50-to-60-year life span.

Central to their compassionate and complex society are the matriarchs.

大象慈悲且复杂的社会核心 是其女族长们。

These female, strong leaders nurture the young

这些强壮的女性领导 培养年幼的象崽

and navigate their way through the challenges of the African bush

并且在挑战重重的非洲树林中 指导象群去向，

to find food, water and security.

来找寻食物、水，和安全。

Their societies are so complex,

它们的社会是如此复杂，

we're yet to still fully tease apart

以至于我们还未能够完全了解

how they communicate, how they verbalize to each other,

它们是如何沟通的， 它们是如何用语言表达自己的，

how their dialects work.

它们的语言语调是如何起作用的。

而且我们也还尚未能真正了解 它们是如何导航自己横跨土地的，

And we don't really understand yet how they navigate the landscape,

它们是如何记住渡河最安全的位置。

remembering the safest places to cross a river.

I'm pretty sure that like me,

我很确定，在座的各位

most of you in this room have a similar positive emotional response

面对这最不可思议的动物

有着相似的正面反应。

to these most magnificent of all animals.

It's really hard not to have watched a documentary,

几乎大家都看过相关的纪录片，

learned about their intelligence

了解它们的智力，

或者你足够幸运， 在野外探险旅行的时候

or, if you've been lucky, to see them for yourselves

on safari in the wild.

能够亲眼看到它们。

但我想，你们中间有多少人

But I wonder how many of you

have been truly, utterly terrified by them.

有真正地、完全地被它们吓到过。

I was lucky to be brought up in Southern Africa

我很幸运，在南非

by two teacher parents

被两个从事教师的父母带大。

who had long holidays but very short budgets.

他们有很长的假期， 但很有限的预算。

And so we used to take our old Ford Cortina Estate,

所以我们经常 开着我们老旧的福特汽车，

and with my sister, we'd pile in the back,

和我的姐姐， 我们会一起塞满后备箱，

take our tents and go camping in the different game reserves

带上帐篷，去南非不同的

野生动物保护区野营。

in Southern Africa.

It really was heaven for a young, budding zoologist like myself.

对一个年轻并萌芽的动物学家来说， 比如我，这项活动好比天堂。

But I remember even at that young age

但我记得 即便我当时如此年轻，

that I found the tall electric fences blocking off the game parks

我已觉得将动物保护区隔离起来的 高高的电围栏

quite divisive.

比较违和分裂。

当然，电围栏是为了不让大象进入社区，

Sure, they were keeping elephants out of the communities,

but they also kept communities out of their wild spaces.

但它们也把社区隔离在了 野生世界之外。

It really was quite a challenge to me at that young age.

这对我来说确实是个挑战， 尤其在那个年龄。

It was only when I moved to Kenya at the age of 14,

直到我 14 岁那年搬去肯尼亚，

when I got to connect to the vast, wild open spaces of East Africa.

我接触到了东非 广阔的野生开放区域。

现在，正是这个地方， 让我有一种

And it is here now that I feel truly, instinctively,

切切实实在家的感觉。

really at home.

I spent many, many happy years studying elephant behavior in a tent,

我花了很多很多个开心的年头， 在桑布鲁国家保护区的

in Samburu National Reserve,

一个帐篷里 研究大象的行为。

under the guideship of professor Fritz Vollrath and Iain Douglas-Hamilton,

在弗里茨·弗拉拉斯教授和 伊恩·道格拉斯·汉密尔顿的指导下，

studying for my PhD and understanding the complexities of elephant societies.

攻读博士学位 并了解大象社会的复杂性。

But now, in my role as head of the human-elephant coexistence program

但现在，我作为 拯救大象（Save the Elephants）中

for Save the Elephants,

人象共存项目的负责人，

we're seeing so much change happening so fast

我们正在见证 许多正快速发生的变化，

that it's urged a change in some of our research programs.

以至于我们有些研究项目 也被敦促着改变。

No longer can we just sit and understand elephant societies

我们不再能 仅是坐在那里去理解大象社会，

or study just how to stop the ivory trade,

或仅是研究如何阻止

which is horrific and still ongoing.

令人震惊并依旧在进行的 象牙交易。

We're having to change our resources more and more

我们现在需要 更多地改变我们的资源

去看待这个日益严峻的问题： 人象矛盾，

to look at this rising problem of human-elephant conflict,

as people and pachyderms compete for space and resources.

在人类和厚皮动物 争夺空间和资源之际。

It was only as recently as the 1970s

只是在 1970 年代，

that we used to have 1.2 million elephants roaming across Africa.

我们曾经有 120 万大象 在整个非洲漫步。

Today, we're edging closer to only having 400,000 left.

如今，现存大象数量 正直逼仅 40 万。

And at the same time period, the human population has quadrupled,

在同样的时间段中， 人口增长了 3 倍，

and the land is being fragmented at such a pace

土地分裂的速度是如此之快，

that it's really hard to keep up with.

真的很难跟上。

Too often, these migrating elephants end up stuck inside communities,

很经常，那些迁徙的大象 会被困在社区中，

looking for food and water

找寻食物和水，

but ending up breaking open water tanks,

但却破坏了公共水箱、

breaking pipes

水管，

and, of course, breaking into food stores for food.

当然，还有为觅食 而闯进食品店。

It's really a huge challenge.

这真的是一个很大的挑战。

Can you imagine the terror

你可以想想那种恐惧——

of an elephant literally ripping the roof off your mud hut

一头大象在半夜

掀掉你的土屋屋顶，

in the middle of the night

and having to hold your children away

或是它们在漆黑夜里寻找食物时

as the trunk reaches in, looking for food in the pitch dark?

把鼻子伸进了屋里，而不巧 你的孩子们“拐走”的恐惧吗？

These elephants also trample and eat crops,

这些大象同时践踏和吃庄稼，

and this is traditionally eroding away

这也就是为什么 人类曾经对大象的容忍

that tolerance that people used to have for elephants.

正在逐渐被消磨的 传统原因。

令人悲伤的是， 我们每天都在失去这些动物，

And sadly, we're losing these animals by the day

and, in some countries, by the hour --

在有的国家，是每小时——

to not only ivory poaching

不仅因为象牙偷猎，

but this rapid rise in human-elephant conflict

也是因为 由空间和资源争夺而起的

as they compete for space and resources.

日益激增的人象矛盾。

It's a massive challenge.

这是一个巨大挑战。

I mean, how do you keep seven-ton pachyderms,

我说，你怎么把 7 吨重

并且通常 10 - 12 只成群的 厚皮动物

that often come in groups of 10 or 12,

out of these very small rural farms

隔离在规模很小的 乡村农场之外？

when you're dealing with people

尤其当你在和

who are living on the very edge of poverty?

生活在贫困边缘的人 打交道的时候？

They don't have big budgets.

他们没有什么预算。

How do you resolve this issue?

你怎么解决这个问题？

Well, one issue is, you can just start to build electric fences,

一个问题是， 你可以只是开始建造电围栏，

and this is happening across Africa,

整个非洲现在都在这么做，

we're seeing this more and more.

我们看到越来越多的社区 采用这样的“解决方式”。

But they are dividing up areas and blocking corridors.

但是他们正在 划分区域、堵塞通道。

And I'm telling you, these elephants don't think much of it either,

我现在告诉你， 这些大象不会思考这么多，

particularly if they're blocking a really special water hole

尤其是，如果社区 堵住一条极为特殊的——

大象需要在那里涉水—— 的水坑，

where they need water,

or if there's a very attractive female on the other side.

或是在过道另一边， 有一头很有吸引力的母象。

It doesn't take long to knock down one of these poles.

破坏那些围栏杆子 并不费劲。

And as soon as there's a gap in the fence,

只要围栏有个空档缺口，

they go back, talk to their mates

大象们就会走回去， 告诉它们的同伴，

and suddenly they're all through,

突然之间，所有的大象 都穿过了围栏，

and now you have 12 elephants on the community side of the fence.

于是现在，被围栏包围的 社区内有 12 头大象。

And now you're really in trouble.

你现在是真的遇到麻烦了。

关于电围栏的设计 不断推陈出新，

People keep trying to come up with new designs for electric fences.

Well, these elephants don't think much of those either.

然而这些大象， 并不会思考那么多。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So rather than having these hard-line, straight, electric,

所以除了使用这些 强硬的、直接的、带电流的，

really divisive migratory-blocking fences,

十分具有分裂性的 防迁移围栏之外，

there must be other ways to look at this challenge.

一定还有其他的方法 来克服这个挑战。

I'm much more interested in holistic and natural methods

为了在必要时候 能把人和大象分开，

to keep elephants and people apart where necessary.

我对整体和自然的解决方案 更感兴趣。

Simply talking to people,

只是与人们交谈，

talking to rural pastoralists in northern Kenya

和肯尼亚北部的 有着丰富灌木知识的

乡村牧民交谈，

who have so much knowledge about the bush,

we discovered this story that they had that elephants would not feed on trees

我们发现牧民口中的大象

不会以 有着野生蜂巢的树木为食。

that had wild beehives in them.

Now this was an interesting story.

这是一个很有意思的故事。

As the elephants were foraging on the tree,

当大象在树上觅食时，

they would break branches and perhaps break open a wild beehive.

它们会折断树枝 也可能会破开野蜂窝。

And those bees would fly out of their natural nests

于是这些蜜蜂 会飞出它们的自然巢穴

and sting the elephants.

并且蜇大象。

Now if the elephants got stung,

如果大象被蜜蜂叮了，

perhaps they would remember that this tree was dangerous

它们可能会记住 这棵树是危险的

and they wouldn't come back to that same site.

并且再也不会回到这个地方。

It seems impossible that they could be stung through their thick skin --

刺穿大象厚厚的皮肤 看似不可能——

elephant skin is around two centimeters thick.

大象皮肤大约有 2 厘米厚。

But it seems that they sting them around the watery areas,

但是蜜蜂蜇大象， 似乎都是在水域附近、

around the eyes, behind the ears, in the mouth, up the trunk.

眼部周围、耳朵后方、 嘴巴里面，象鼻上方。

You can imagine they would remember that very quickly.

你能想象大象会很快记住 这个“被叮”的体验。

And it's not really one sting that they're scared of.

而且让它们害怕的 不仅是一次叮咬。

非洲蜜蜂有一个惊人的能力：

African bees have a phenomenal ability:

当它们叮咬某一处时， 会释放一种

when they sting in one site, they release a pheromone

that triggers the rest of the bees to come and sting the same site.

能够吸引其他蜜蜂 来同处叮咬的信息素。

所以大象害怕的 不是被一只蜜蜂蜇——

So it's not one beesting that they're scared of --

it's perhaps thousands of beestings,

可能是上千的蜜蜂

coming to sting in the same area -- that they're afraid of.

前来叮咬同一个地方—— 这是它们所害怕的。

And of course, a good matriarch

当然，一个优秀的女族长

would always keep her young away from such a threat.

一直都会保护小象， 让它们免受如此的威胁。

Young calves have much thinner skins,

幼崽们的皮肤薄得多，

and it's potential that they could be stung

它们被叮的话，

很有可能会刺穿它们 较薄的皮肤。

through their thinner skins.

So for my PhD, I had this unusual challenge

所以，我的博士学位 有着不同寻常的挑战——

of trying to work out

在非洲大象和非洲蜜蜂

how African elephants and African bees would interact,

毫无互动的理论背景下，

when the theory was that they wouldn't interact at all.

尝试找到它们的相互作用机制。

How was I going to study this?

我要怎么进行这项研究？

Well, what I did was I took the sound of disturbed African honey bees,

我做的一件事，是拿着 被扰乱的非洲蜜蜂的音带，

and I played it back to elephants resting under trees

跑到在树下休息的大象耳边

through a wireless speaker system,

利用无线扬声器系统 播放此音带，

so I could understand how they would react as if there were wild bees in the area.

来了解假设这块区域有野生蜜蜂， 大象会如何反应。

And it turns out that they react quite dramatically

结果是，这些大象对 非洲蜜蜂的声音

to the sound of African wild bees.

反应很大。

Here we are, playing the bee sounds back to this amazing group of elephants.

我们看看，重复在这群大象耳边 播放蜜蜂的音带。

You can see the ears going up, going out,

你可以看到它们的耳朵竖了起来，

they're turning their heads from side to side,

它们在左右摇晃脑袋，

one elephant is flicking her trunk to try and smell.

一头大象在甩动鼻子 尝试着闻气味。

There's another elephant that kicks one of calves on the ground

还有一头大象 踢了一下地上的一头幼崽，

to tell it to get up as if there is a threat.

告诉它快站起来， 宛如威胁正在逼近。

And one elephant triggers a retreat,

之后一头大象发出撤退指令，

and soon the whole family of elephants are running after her

很快整个大象家族 都跟着它撤退，

across the savannah in a cloud of dust.

在尘埃中穿越稀树大草原。

(Sound of bees buzzing)

（蜜蜂嗡嗡叫声）

(Sound of bees ends)

（蜜蜂叫声结束）

Now I've done this experiment many, many times,

我已经做过这个实验好几次了，

大象几乎每次都会逃跑。

and the elephants almost always flee.

Not only do they run away,

它们不仅会逃跑，

but they dust themselves as they're running,

而且会在逃跑的时候 用尘土弄脏自己，

as if to knock bees out of the air.

好像想要把蜜蜂 从自己的身上拍掉。

And we placed infrasonic microphones around the elephants

在进行这些实验时，

我们把次声传声器 放置在大象周围。

as we did these experiments.

And it turns out they're communicating to each other in infrasonic rumbles

后来发现它们在次声波段 隆隆低语地交流

to warn each other of the threat of bees

来警告彼此蜜蜂的威胁

and to stay away from the area.

并且远离蜜蜂所在区域。

So these behavioral discoveries

所以这些行为的发现

really helped us understand how elephants would react

确实帮助我们了解了 大象在被蜜蜂声音包围的时候

should they hear or see bee sounds.

会做出怎样的反应。

This led me to invent a novel design for a beehive fence,

这启发我发明了一种新颖的 围栏设计——蜂巢围栏。

which we are now building around small, one-to-two-acre farms

我们现在正在非洲最脆弱的、

on the most vulnerable frontline areas of Africa

人象空间争夺严重的 前线地区，

where humans and elephants are competing for space.

围绕着 1 - 2 英亩的小农场 建造这样的围栏。

These beehive fences are very, very simple.

这些蜂巢围栏非常非常简单。

We use 12 beehives and 12 dummy hives

我们用 12 个蜂巢 和 12 个假蜂巢

to protect one acre of farmland.

来保护 1 英亩的农田。

一个假蜂巢只是一块

Now a dummy hive is simply a piece of plywood

被切成正方形、涂成黄色，

which we cut into squares, paint yellow

and hang in between the hives.

并且悬挂在蜂巢间的胶合板。

We're basically tricking the elephants

我们基本上是在捉弄大象，

into thinking there are more beehives than there really are.

希望它们认为这里 有比实际数量更多的蜂巢。

当然，这能削减围栏一半的成本。

And of course, it literally halves the cost of the fence.

所以是一个真一个假，

So there's a hive and a dummy hive

and a beehive and now dummy hive,

再一个真，再一个假蜂巢，

every 10 meters around the outside boundary.

每隔 10 米，放在围栏之外。

They're held up by posts

这些蜂巢被 带有遮阳棚顶的柱子所支撑，

with a shade roof to protect the bees,

以保护蜜蜂，

and they're interconnected with a simple piece of plain wire,

用一根钢丝把它们连接起来，

which goes all the way around, connecting the hives.

串联整圈的蜂巢。

So if an elephant tries to enter the farm,

如果一头大象尝试着进入农场，

he will avoid the beehive at all cost,

它将会不遗余力地避开蜂巢，

but he might try and push through between the hive and the dummy hive,

但是它可能会尝试 从真假蜂巢的间隙处通过，

当它的胸部触碰到钢丝时， 所有蜂巢会同时晃动。

causing all the beehives to swing as the wire hits his chest.

And as we know from our research work,

而且根据我们的研究， 我们知道

this will cause the elephants to flee and run away --

大象会因此逃跑——

and hopefully remember not to come back to that risky area.

希望它们会记得 不要再回到这块危险的区域。

蜜蜂从蜂巢中涌出，

The bees swarm out of the hive,

and they really scare the elephants away.

它们真的能把大象们吓走。

These beehive fences we're studying using things like camera traps

我们使用相机陷阱等技术 在研究这些蜂巢围栏，

to help us understand how elephants are responding

来帮助我们理解

大象在夜间碰到围栏 会有何反应。

to them at night time,

which is when most of the crop raiding occurs.

夜间是大多数农作物 被侵袭的时候。

And we found in our study farms

而且在我们进行研究的农场中，

that we're keeping up to 80 percent of elephants

我们发现 我们正把高达 80% 的大象

outside of the boundaries of these farms.

隔离在这些农场边界外。

And the bees and the beehive fences are also pollinating the fields.

这些蜜蜂和蜂巢围栏 也同时在给土地传授花粉。

So we're having a great reduction both in elephant crop raids

所以我们的设计同时 减少了大象对农作物的侵袭，

and a boost in yield through the pollination services

并且通过蜜蜂给农作物授粉，

刺激了农场产量。

that the bees are giving to the crops themselves.

The strength of the beehive fences is really important --

蜂巢围栏的强度很重要——

the colonies have to be very strong.

蜂群需要非常强健。

So we're trying to help farmers grow pollinator-friendly crops

所以我们正在尝试 帮助农民种植授粉友好的作物，

to boost their hives,

来加强加固它们的蜂巢，

boost the strength of their bees

增强蜜蜂的力量，

and, of course, produce the most amazing honey.

当然，还有生产最佳的蜂蜜。

This honey is so valuable as an extra livelihood income for the farmers.

作为农民额外的生计收入， 这个蜂蜜是如此宝贵。

It's a healthy alternative to sugar,

这是糖的健康替代品，

and in our community,

而且在我们社区，

蜂蜜是一个给岳母/婆婆 非常珍贵的礼物，

it's a very valuable present to give a mother-in-law,

which makes it almost priceless.

这几乎是无价之宝。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

We now bottle up this honey,

我们现在将这蜂蜜 密封到瓶中，

and we've called this wild beautiful honey Elephant-Friendly Honey.

我们把这野生美丽的蜂蜜 称之为大象友好蜂蜜。

It is a fun name,

这是一个风趣的名字，

but it also attracts attention to our project

但也吸引了 不少人对我们项目的关注

并且帮助人们了解 我们正在尝试做的事情——

and helps people understand what we're trying to do

拯救大象。

to save elephants.

我们现在和许多女性合作，

We're working now with so many women

in over 60 human-elephant conflict sites

在非洲和亚洲的 19 个国家，

60 余存在人象矛盾的地点

in 19 countries in Africa and Asia

to build these beehive fences,

建造这些蜂巢围栏，

working very, very closely with so many farmers

非常紧密地和许多农民协作，

but particularly now with women farmers,

主要是女性农民，

helping them to live better in harmony with elephants.

在帮助她们建立一个 与大象和平共处的生活。

One of the things we're trying to do is develop a toolbox of options

我们在做的一件事 就是开发一个选项工具箱

使人们能更好地 和这些巨型厚皮动物和谐相处。

to live in better harmony with these massive pachyderms.

One of those issues is to try and get farmers,

其中的一个问题 就是让农民加入我们的行列，

and women in particular,

尤其是女性，

to think different about what they're planting

从不同角度思考 他们正在自己的农场中

inside their farms as well.

种着什么作物。

So we're looking at planting crops

所以我们寻找一种

that elephants don't particularly want to eat, like chillies,

大象通常不会想要吃的作物，

例如辣椒、姜、辣木， 和向日葵。

ginger, Moringa, sunflowers.

当然，蜜蜂和蜂巢围栏 也非常喜爱这些作物，

And of course, the bees and the beehive fences love these crops too,

因为这些作物会长出美丽的花。

because they have beautiful flowers.

其中的一种带刺的植物， 名为剑麻——

One of these plants is a spiky plant called sisal --

you may know this here as jute.

你可能知道 它的“黄麻布料”身份。

这种奇妙的植物可以砍下来

And this amazing plant can be stripped down

and turned into a weaving product.

制成织物。

We're working with these amazing women now

我们正在 在和这些优秀的女性合作。

她们每天的生活 都受到了大象的挑战，

who live daily with the challenges of elephants

to use this plant to weave into baskets

现在她们用这种植物 编织成篮筐

to provide an alternative income for them.

作为她们的一种替代收入。

We've just started construction only three weeks ago

我们在 3 周前 在女性企业中心

on a women's enterprise center

刚刚开始动工。

where we're going to be working with these women

在那里， 我们将要和这些女性协作，

不仅作为专业养蜂人，

not only as expert beekeepers

还作为技艺精湛的篮筐编织者；

but as amazing basket weavers;

they're going to be processing chili oils, sunflower oils,

她们将会生产 辣椒油、葵花籽油，

making lip balms and honey,

制造润唇膏和蜂蜜，

and we're somewhere on our way to helping these participating farmers

而我们也在帮助这些 参与项目的农民

live with better eco-generating projects that live and work better

打造生态驱动项目， 以至于他们和大象共存的同时，

能过上更好的生活， 做更好的工作。

with living with elephants.

So whether it's matriarchs

所以不论是女族长，

or mothers or researchers like myself,

母亲，或是像我这样的研究人员，

I do see more women coming to the forefront now

我确实看到更多的女性到前线来

to think differently and more boldly about the challenges that we face.

为我们面对的挑战 提供更加不同且大胆的想法。

With more innovation,

随着更多的创新，

可能还有 对彼此更多的一些共鸣，

and perhaps with some more empathy towards each other,

I do believe we can move from a state of conflict with elephants

我确实相信我们可以 从一个人象矛盾之国

to true coexistence.

转变为 可以真正人象共存的国家。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）