Aloha,

     Interesting article in the New York Times about Elephant's fear of Bees.  Because our Phantoms and other drones sound like bees, some say angry bees, this information may be useful when flying near elephants.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/26/science/bees-elephants-.html

Aloha and Drone On!

Ken,
I know many animals have ultra sensitive hearing.

So surely our drones attract their negative attention.



RedHotPoker

I've noticed that cows sometimes take off at a dead run when I fly over them at 400'

Mark The Droner Posted at 2018-2-28 03:22
I've noticed that cows sometimes take off at a dead run when I fly over them at 400'

Aloha Mark,

     Smart cows!  So, those are American cows?  The article concerns African Bees.  But if you live where there are Africanized bees in the US, then those cows are really smart!  Lucky those Africanized bees have not reached Hawai'i yet!

     The article notes just how nasty them little stingers can be!  I mean the biggest land animal freaks when they hear them little stingers.  So far, it is the best strategy yet to handle (or stop) the elephants from their poaching of African farms.  Then they will have to find a way to keep the elephants from getting drunk off of the fallen fruits of African fruit orchards!  Maybe that is in the same program?  Nothing meaner than a drunk bull elephant.

Aloha and Drone On!

Yes, they are American cows... from Maryland.  We don't have Africanized (killer) bees here in Maryland quite yet.  What we have here are yellow jackets - they have hives in the ground.  And if you mistakenly walk on the small mound in the dirt/grass, they can come after you in a swarm and the stings hurt like hell.  It's not like a honey bee sting.  It hurts a lot more than that!  So if the cows have experience with yellow jackets, they know to run when they hear them coming...

Mark The Droner Posted at 2018-3-1 03:09
Yes, they are American cows... from Maryland.  We don't have Africanized (killer) bees here in Maryland quite yet.  What we have here are yellow jackets - they have hives in the ground.  And if you mistakenly walk on the small mound in the dirt/grass, they can come after you in a swarm and the stings hurt like hell.  It's not like a honey bee sting.  It hurts a lot more than that!  So if the cows have experience with yellow jackets, they know to run when they hear them coming...

Aloha Mark,

     This is cool!  I graduated from Wheaton High school!  Yes, I remember Yellow-Jackets.  We have them here in Hawai'i to.  I remember they had nests in the ground, but our Hawai'ian variety does not nest in the ground.  

     We have Mud-Wasps here in the jungle and they are easy to live with except when they make a nest on the spokes of your bicycle.  But then, they are just telling you you need to ride your bike more often!  Another thing about their sting is they are barbless.  The Honey Bees have barbs and loose their innards (and die) when they sting but Yellow-Jackets and Wasps can sting repeatedly, OUCH!

     I have learned to live with Honey Bees, Yellow-Jackets and Wasps.  I used to run a swimming pool and the kids would freak-out when I would take a drowning Wasp or Yellow Jacket out of the pool and put them on my nose to dry out.  Great fun!  Ahh, the memories!

Aloha and Drone On!

Wheaton is right down the road from me.  I live on Rt 97 Georgia Ave just north of Olney!  

We have mud wasps here too, but they never sting anybody.  I don't think I want to put any wet wasps on my nose though....