An African-born British scientist received an environment research prize for showing how bees can be used to reduce conflict between people and elephants. Lucy King's work proved that beehive  "fences" can keep elephants out of African farmers' fields. The animals are scared of bees, which can bite them inside their long noses, and flee when they hear buzzing  . Dr King's work offers an intelligent solution to an age-old challenge, while providing further confirmation of the importance of bees to people and a really clever way of preserving the world's largest land animal for current and future generations. Working in Kenya, Dr King and her team showed that more than 90% of elephants will flee when they hear the sounds of buzzing bees. Afterwards, they also found that elephants produce a special sound to warn their fellows of the danger. They used the findings to construct barriers where beehives are woven into a fence, keeping the elephants away from places where people live and grow food. A two-year project involving 34 farms showed that elephants trying to go through the fences would shake them, disturbing the bees. Later, the fences were adopted by farming communities in three Kenyan districts , who also made increased amounts of money from selling honey. As Africa's population grows, competition for space between people and elephants is becoming more serious, and there are _ on both sides. The same is true in parts of Asia. Sri Lanka alone sees the deaths of an estimated 60 people and 200 elephants each year from conflict. Lucy King now wants to see whether the Kenyan technique will work in other parts of  Africa and perhaps, eventually, in Asia. Dr King's solution is described as "intelligent" because  _  .
it successfully keeps elephants out of African farmers' fields the fences were adopted by farming communities in three Kenyan districts more than 90% of elephants flee when they hear the sounds of buzzing bees it protects crops, produces honey and preserves the elephant at the same time