Scientists in Africa have developed a way to make rogue elephant herds bee-have – just by playing the buzzing sound of an angry swarm of stingers at them.

How The Sound Of Angry Bees Is Keeping The Peace Between African Elephants And Humans pic.twitter.com/LVAZMKpxs8

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The device – called BuzzBox – was developed to help keep tusker herds away from human settlements that have sprung up on their grazing and migration routes.

Incredible new footage of the device in action shows a huge bull elephant eating contentedly in the undergrowth of Liberia, West Africa.

But the moment it triggers the device by getting too close to farmland it hears the sound of angrily buzzing bees.

The elephant is seen lifting its head up, looking around and then turning tail and walking rapidly away.

The device developed by Martyn Griffiths, head of the Wild Survivors charity has been hailed by tusker charity ELRECO, or Elephant Research and Conservation.

ELRECO technical director Dr Tina Vogt said: “We were absolutely thrilled when we saw the footage.

“The chance to get this kind of scene is probably one in a million.

“Not only was the elephant in the centre of the film, but it was daylight and the Buzz Box trigger worked perfectly.”

Dr Vogt added: “With human-elephant conflict so prevalent, it was so encouraging to see him race away from the farmland.”

Francesca Mahoney is the founder and director of Wild Survivors and said that the welfare of communities was “at the heart” of her mission.

Jane Wynyard, the head of communications at Kenya-based charity Save the Elephants, praised the clip as a “one-in-a-million footage.”

She said: “The crystal-clear camera trap footage is significant as forest elephants are elusive and rarely seen in the wild, especially during the day.

“This was the first time BuzzBoxes have been trialled on forest elephants.”

She explained that elephant lives are at risk from increasing conflicts with humans caused by habitat loss.

She said: “The elephant’s behaviour provides evidence that BuzzBoxes are effective in keeping both forest and savannah elephants safely outside of farms.”

Save the Elephant says tuskers in Africa were reclassified as ‘critically endangered’ two years ago.

They say the current population of elephants in the wild forests of Central and West Africa is around 150,000.

BuzzBox is now being extended around farms in an attempt to stop elephants from raiding farmers’ crops.

Hungry elephants are capable of eating a year’s work for a farmer and will attack and maybe even kill anybody that tries to get in the way.

The project came about after a discovery in 2002 when Maasai beekeepers in Kenya revealed that trees with beehives were never disturbed by elephants.

And tuskers are right to be wary of bees.

Even though they have thick hides adult elephants would be vulnerable to agonising attacks in their sensitive trunks and eyes.

Some experts reckon that a large swarm of aggressive African honey bees could even kill a young calf with a less thick hide.