Zoologist Dr. Lucy King helms the Human-Elephant Coexistence Program for the Kenyan research charity Save the Elephants.

Why you should listen

Dr. Lucy King first landed on African soil in Mogadishu Airport at the age of ten months, although it wasn't until she left the heat and turmoil of Somalia for the tranquility of the little Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho that her love for the continent took hold.

King's upbringing in Africa and her fascination with animal-human interactions led her to study zoology, with a focus on a critical problem: How can rural farmers learn to live with the immense pachyderms that raid crops and destroy their farms? With the help of her African neighbors and colleagues at Save the Elephants in Kenya, she developed a method that reduces elephant crop destruction using bees as a natural deterrent. Her unique eco-friendly method of building beehive fences around farm boundaries has reached 19 countries in Africa and Asia, and the buzzing income-generating fences are boosting crop pollination, honey production and coexistence between rural farmers and wild elephants.  

Lucy King’s TED talk

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