Lucy King

Environmentalist, Explorer, Global soul, Idea generator, Project manager, Scientist, World traveler, Writer/Editor

Dr Lucy King was brought up in Somalia, Lesotho and Kenya. She has been researching the use of honey bees as a natural deterrent for crop-raiding elephants since 2006, and has published her findings in numerous scientific journals. Her DPhil thesis, through Oxford University’s Zoology Department and in partnership with Save the Elephants and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, was awarded the UNEP/CMS Thesis Award 2011 from the United Nations Environment Program’s Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species. In 2013 she won The Future for Nature Award and The St Andrews Prize for the Environment and was invited to join IUCN’s African Elephant Specialist Group. In early 2014 she built ‘The Elephants and Bees Research Center’ next to Tsavo East National Park in Kenya and initiated a research project in Sri Lanka to assess if the Beehive Fence concept could be adapted for Asian elephants and bees. Previously, she completed an MSc in Biology (Integrative Bioscience) from Balliol College, Oxford (2006) and gained a First Class degree in Zoology from Bristol University (1999). Between 2000 and 2005, she led numerous conservation projects and expeditions to Africa and South America in her role as Operations Director for Quest Overseas. She now lives in Nairobi with her partner leading the Human-Elephant Co-Existence Program for Save the Elephants, and remains a Research Associate at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford.

Protecting wildlife and keeping Africa's wilderness spaces open and functionally connected.

Elephants in Kenya are not confined to national parks and reserves; hence interactions between farmers and crop-raiding elephants can pose serious social, political, economical and conservation problems. Dr Lucy King’s research has proved that African elephants are aware about, and will actively avoid, the threat of African honey bees. She demonstrated that not only do they run away from disturbed bee sounds but her team also revealed that elephants emit a unique low frequency (infrasonic) rumble that warns other elephants in the area to retreat. These rumbles appear to be novel to the threat of bees when compared to infrasonic rumbles emitted by elephants in response to human threat. These behavioural discoveries were groundbreaking, and encouraged her to develop and test a unique application for this behaviour through the use of protective Beehive Fences around farmers’ fields with the aim of reducing human-elephant conflict (HEC). The Beehive Fences are not only reducing damaging crop-raids by elephants by as much as 80%, but the bees are also helping to pollinate the fields, and farmers are now harvesting valuable “Elephant-Friendly Honey” as an additional product from their land. Since starting her research in 2006, the Beehive Fence HEC mitigation concept has spread rapidly and Beehive Fences are presently being tested in 15 countries in Africa, 4 countries in Asia and has was incorporated into Kenya’s 2012-2021 management strategy for elephant conservation in the country. The project (www.elephantsandbees.com) is lead by Dr Lucy King under the umbrella of the research charity Save the Elephants.

African expeditions, Community-based conservation, Elephant behaviour, Ivory trade, Project management, Wildlife conservation, Zoology

I met the inspiring Pat Mitchell on a ROAR Africa Women's Empowerment Safari in South Africa and was fortunate to present my story to her. She believed that my story would add some unusual pachyderm joy to this years TEDWomen conference and I can't wait to share my ideas and learn more from the fascinating speakers lined up.