This is one of the coolest ideas I ever heard , honestly I don’t know the person who came up with this idea but it’s actually very interesting.
Let me first tell you the story behind it . We all are aware of the immense biodiversity of our India. But due to the pressure of ever increasing population , infringement of wildlife habitats is inevitable . Railway lines and other linear infrastructure projects run through the forests for thousands of kilometers affecting wildlife corridors. This causes the fragmentation of their habitat.
Every year, a number of elephants sustain injuries and die after colliding with trains on railway tracks. Animals cross the tracks to reach nearby water bodies, or in search of food, and sometimes end up getting trapped. Now this was some serious trouble for Ministry of environment and Ministry of Railways as well . Because first it led to death of large number of endangered species , Second it obstructed Railway routes.
The government tried each and every method but nothing seemed to work . Joint patrolling team to monitor the movement of elephant,herds near the track was deployed in the national park. Proper warning signs and hoardings were installed for train drivers . But nothing could reduce the number of accidents happening Every year.
This is when someone came up with a brilliant idea. It was actually an inspiration from Kenya where boutique beehives are dangled from fences to keep elephants away, Instead in India we started using an electronic "buzzer" to keep the animals at bay. It is actually a simple device that amplifies the recorded sound of honeybees downloaded from the internet.
The device costs around Rs 2,000 to put together and is audible to an elephant 600 metres away. This has reduced animal collisions by 90% .
According to me it’s a brilliant idea and it saved not only millions of rupees for government of India but also saved precious animal lives.