Once again, I apologize. It's a little surprising that elephants would be afraid of bees, but apparently they are. The bees can give them problems if they sting them around the yes, or inside their trunks, and calves can be severely injured or even killed. The threat is serious enough that elephants have apparently developed a warning call specifically associated with the possible presence of bees. The results, published in PLoS One, are summarized in a press release here at Science Daily.
Researchers played recordings of bees to families of elephants and observed that the animals fled from the sounds. Not only that, but they made a low, "rumbling" call and shook their heads as they were fleeing. The scientists also found that a recording of the alarm call was enough to produce the flight response, even in the absence of bees. When the call was played for elephant families, six of ten fled in the opposite direction from the loudspeaker. When the call was frequency-adjusted, or replaced with a control rumble, only two of ten elephant families fled. The sample size may be a little small to draw an emphatic conclusion, but it's pretty interesting. Entertaining too, as you'll see below.
Further work is planned to determine if the call is employed for types of threats other than bees.
Got lucky with YouTube. Check it out.
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