BBC 6分钟英语学习 Elephant-proof farming

6 min English from

BBC learning english dot com. Hello.

This is Minute English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil, and I'm Beth. Maybe the only good

thing about covid lockdowns was the return of wildlife to our towns and cities.

Birds, foxes and deer were seen in the streets close to people's homes.

Of course, rubbing shoulders with animals, spending time with them is amazing.

But imagine a hungry African elephant stumbling into your garden and eating your prize vegetables.

How would you stop it? It sounds unlikely, but that's exactly the problem faced by farmers in Africa.

Yes. As human populations increase while natural habitats decline, people and animals are increasingly being forced to compete for space.

Wild animals can endanger humans when they break into their farms for food or water, and people might be forced to attack or even kill these animals to defend their homes.

This situation, known as human wildlife conflict, is becoming more frequent.

But in this program, will be hearing about ingenious farmers in Kenya who are keeping their food safe from hungry wild animals.

And as usual, will be learning some useful new vocabulary.

But 1st, I have a question for you, beth.

Weighing around six tons, a fully grown African elephant needs to eat a lot every day.

But how much, exactly is it?

A 50 kg of food per day?

B 100 kg of food per day, or C 150 kg of food per day.

Hmm, I'll guess an elephant eats 150 kilos of food today.

OK, beth, we'll find out if that's the right answer at the end of the program.

Victor and Donbi is food security officer for the wildlife charity Save the Elephants.

Victor works at Sarvo National Park in Kenya, where he's often faced with wild elephants breaking into farms for food and water.

His victor. Explaining more to Michael Coloki, reporter for BBC World Service program People Fixing the world.

The conflict usually varies. What we experience here is during the crop season, that is rainy season.

That's where we usually have the cooperates.

They eventually come here, lots of them, and they cooperate on the crops.

Can I ask you, where do these elephants come from?

So they come from those private ranchers, national parks, and they come to this community, looking for where there is green pastures.

So they come to this community where we have these nutritious foods.

You know, elephants love maize beans, and that is the crop that farmers usually farm, so they comment in those crops here.

And also, looking forward. Victor sounds very calm about this.

It's just a way of life for the people out here.

But elephants do spare big trouble for farmers.

A fully grown male elephant can weigh the same as six cars on top of each other.

It's easy to see how they can destroy crops and livelihoods.

Victor works in a national park, a large area of land which is protected by the government because of its natural beauty plants or animals.

He explains that the elephants rage crops like maize and beans from farmers in the park to raid means to suddenly attack a place and steal from it.

These crop braids have become more frequent because elephants are desperate to find water, and because the park lacks money to fix broken fences which keep wild animals out, victor says, the raids have become a way of life, an activity that has become a regular thing in people's lives, rather than something that happens only occasionally.

That's no problem if it's a fox in your rubbish bin.

But African elephants are as big as six cars on top of each other, and this spells trouble for the farmers.

If something spells trouble, it suggests that there may be problems in the future.

Fortunately, there's an unusual solution that's got people buzzing bees.

Ancient Kenyan folklore says that elephants are scared of bees.

That's right, elephants, the world's biggest land mammal, are scared of an insect the size of your thumbnail.

Victor's team installed beehive fences to protect farmers.

Crops. Real bees work best, but even a recording of bees angrily buzzing is enough to keep the elephants away.

Betty Yet, the bees also pollinate plants and even produce honey.

It's good news for the farmer, but I have to feel a little sorry for the elephants, yes, especially because they need to eat so much.

I think it's time to reveal the answer to my question.

Beth, you asked me how much food and elephant eats per day, and I guessed it was 150 kilogram.

And that was the correct answer.

Well done. A fully grown African elephant needs 150 kg.

Of food

per day. OK, let's recap the rest of the vocabulary we've learned in this program about human wildlife conflict, a phrase describing harmful encounters between humans and wild animals.

If you rub shoulders with someone, you meet them and spend time together to raid, means to suddenly attack a place and steal something.

A national park is a large area of a country which is protected by the governments because of its natural beauty plants or animals.

If you describe an activity as a way of life, you mean that it's become a common or regular event for someone, rather than something that happens only occasionally.

And finally, when something spells trouble, it suggests that there may be problems coming in the future.

Once again, our 6 min are up.

Bye for now. By 6 min English from BBC learning english dot Com.

扫码查看听力音频