World Bee Day 2026

日期：2026-09-05 栏目：Jk制服浏览：次

World Bee Day - 20 May

Discover more about these incredible little creatures.

Carder Bee on purple flower

On this day we celebrate bees

To celebrate World bee Day, we’d love to invite you to learn more about these busy insects and join us by discovering fascinating facts and reconnecting with these vital little workers.

Ruvuma transboundary landscape

Beehold – the mighty power of the tiny bee!

In the Southern Tanzania and Northern Mozambique, bees are playing a key role in improving human-wildlife coexistence.

Home to elephants, wild dogs, lions, and more, the Ruvuma Transboundary Landscape is one of Africa’s largest most in-tact natural habitats. The landscape is also home to over 8 million people – and where wildlife and people live in proximity, conflict can arise.

‘In recent times, especially in the Ruvuma landscape, human-wildlife conflict, particularly involving elephants has become a major challenge.’ – Deogratius Kilasara, Project Officer, WWF-Tanzania.

Human-wildlife conflict can seriously impact livelihoods, and tolerance for wildlife. Elephants can damage crops and property, and can be a threat to human safety. Community members may then retaliate against elephants.

That’s where the bees come in!

“Farmers used to cultivate large fields but harvested very little because wild animals invaded and destroyed the crops. But now with [beehive and chilli] fencing around farms, animals can’t easily enter and this has improved yields significantly.” Athuman Hamidu Community member and project beneficiary

Bee hive to deter elephants in Tanzania

Despite their strong stature, elephants fear bees.

While a bee sting cannot penetrate an elephant’s thick hide, a swarm of bees can hurt an elephant when they target more sensitive areas, like the skin around the tip of their trunk.

With funding from the UK Government’s Darwin Initiative, WWF is working with local communities and partners SWISSAID Tanzania and UniLúrio, in the Ruvuma Landscape to prevent, manage and respond to human-wildlife conflict, and work towards coexistence. Part of this work involves the use of elephant deterrents including beehive fences and chilli fences (elephants have sensitive noses, the smell of chilli repels them!).

In the Mozambique project site, chilli fences and beehive barriers now protect a 600m perimeter across seven farms in Matchedje, and 100m of the Segundo Congresso agroecology plot - that's over 40 beehives in action! Since installation, there have been zero incidents of crop damage by elephants across these farms (despite nearby elephant movements), and honey production from the hives is shared with communities. According to a local village leader, he witnessed an elephant approach the beehive fence and when it detected the bees it turned around moving away from the farm.

In Tanzania, beehive fences have been installed around agroecology plots in Mandela Village (25 hives) and Misayje (30 hives). Since their installation, combined with other deterrents such as chilli fences, no elephant-crop raiding incidents have occurred at these sites for the past two years.

Take a moment to learn about bees

Facts and tips

Be more bee: A glimpse into the life of a bee

Constantly on the lookout for sweet treats, avoiding bad weather, and building homes fit for a Queen: we have a few things to learn from bees.

Read the article

Why bees matter

Bees play a vital role in pollinating plants that other species depend on for survival. Without them, whole ecosystems would change or cease to exist.

Read the article

Bees on a flower