Great Brown Bears Love Hot Pepper smell

Some have heard that bear spray actually attracts bears?

Who would want to use something that does that?

I was under the impression that no mammal except humans like and love Chili Peppers in spite of its fiery nature. Just the day before , I posted something on these lines about Elephant's dislike for peppr smell.

I may be wrong about "All Mammals" . I was watching a documentry about Alaska today morning when a scientist was seen preparing his pepper spray canister to ward off bears. On researching more on line, I discovered a first person account by a knowledgable Bearologist (If I can call Tom Smith a scientist stationed at Anchorage Alsaka.) which informs a dummy like me that Bears actually were seen wallowing in the Hot pepper sprayed part of the earth even after five days.!! Is it because they associate heat of Hot peppers with the female heat or do they increase their chances of mating with the Pepper perfume?

We may never know the truth.

How touching !! (Pun Intended). Read a complete account here by Dr. Tom Smith PhD

Q: Who would want to use pepper spray if it attracts bears?

A: I published a paper in 1998 in the Wildlife Society Bulletin (Vol. 26: 92-94) demonstrating that some Alaskan brown bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) were attracted to bear pepper spray residues. I decided to conduct this work after I’d observed a bear vigorously rolling in pepper spray residues put down by a person who had hoped that the spray would repel bears from his floatplane tied to the beach. It hadn’t worked and his neoprene float covers were damaged. Now here I was watching a bear vigorously scent rub in the orangish stain on the beach. “What if this stuff actually attracted bears?” I began to worry, but not whether or not the spray worked as a bear deterrent but rather regarding their interest in residues on objects regardless of how they got there. I reflected on the fact that only days before I had shown a new field assistant how to use pepper spray... by discharging it just outside my field camp perimeter. It never occurred to me that the residue might prove troublesome. What if this residue actually attracted bears? Considering this further, I knew of people who had applied pepper spray to objects in the hopes of repelling bears from them. I even knew of a PhD bear research scientist who lectured on bear safety and had suggested that spray could be used in this manner to protect items that couldn’t be otherwise protected from curious bears. I felt I needed to further investigate because property and people could possibly be injured by this misuse of the product.

For this research I sprayed red pepper spray directly onto the ground then sat back and observed bears' reactions to it. Many bears were clearly attracted to spray residues, some vigorously head rubbing, back rolling, pawing and eating the soils tainted with spray. I also observed somebears responding to these sites for up to a 5 days after spray application. So not only were they attracted to it but for some time after it had been dispensed. So I published a short note hoping to warn others of the potential dangers associated with misuse of the product.

Some persons have concluded that because pepper spray was shown to elicit and hold a bear’s interest is ought not be used as a deterrent. Does this make any sense? Of course not. All it means is that these sprays should only be used as intended by their manufacturers: directly into the face of an aggressive bear. Other uses, such as applying it to objects in the hopes that the spray might have some sort of repellent effect would be an outright waste of the product, and given my findings, potentially dangerous. Even after noting that some red pepper spray deterrents have this attractive quality about them, I never questioned their use or effectiveness. I carry theses products in bear country, my field assistants carry them and they are effective.

Tom S. Smith, Ph.D.U.S. Geological SurveyAlaska Science Center - Biological Science Office1011 E. Tudor Rd., MS 701Anchorage, AK 99503Office: (907) 786-3456Fax: (907) 786-3636email: tom_smith@usgs.gov

Photograph taken with thanks from

chroniclesandexploits.com/1500MilestoAmerica.htm

Naga Jolokia Addict

Elephants and Bhut Jolokia are No Friends

One mammal that is highly allergic to Hotness of Chilli peppers is also the biggest land dwelling mammal. It also holds the record of having longest nose and also longest memory.

Yes, I am taling of MIGHTY ELEPHANTS.

Elephants are fearless animals and they stand their ground against any other animal of prey but when they come across Bhut Jolokia or other hot chili peppers, they raise their tails and run away as far as they can.

This fact was first discovered in Assam in India and quickly adopted by Africa and other countries people to ward of marauding hoards of elephants that destroyed crops and plantations.

Read the following stories from India and Africa.

Assam elephants are in for chilli shock

Rahul Karmakar, Hindustan TimesEmail AuthorGuwahati, November 14, 2007First Published: 00:27 IST(14/11/2007)

ELECTRIC FENCING has hardly proved a shocker for Assam's marauding elephants, so authorities have turned to a cheaper and hotter option. They are erecting rope fences dipped in chilli powder around paddy fields and plantations to reduce man-elephant conflicts.

The state Forest Department, in collaboration with WWF-India, has begun hot fencing using Bhot Jolokia in Balipara area of Sonitpur district. Bhot is the local term for anything of Bhutanese origin and Jolokia is the world's hottest chilli measuring 1,001,304 Scoville heat units nearly twice as hot as the Red Savina pepper it replaced in the record books in February.

We have begun work on this chilli-smeared rope fencing, Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain told the Assembly on Tuesday. These chillies are too hot even for the elephants, and we are banking on the success of this experiment to check man-animal conflicts.



Now we go to Africa for a similar story.

'Chilli brick' keeps elephants away

By Ed Stoddard

It has spiced up many a meal, but now the fiery chilli pepper is being used to cool an ancient feud between farmers and wild elephants in Africa.

In the Zambezi valley in southern Zambia, small-scale farmers are growing chilli peppers as a deterrent against elephants that raid their crops – and marketing the end result as an eco-friendly product.

“Elephants simply don't like the smell of chilli,” said Nina Gibson, project co-ordinator for the Elephant Pepper Development Trust.

'Elephants simply don't like the smell of chilli' The deterrents used are simpler to make than many chilli recipes, but probably have more kick.

“The farmers crush the chillies they grow and mix them with old engine oil. They smear that paste onto a simple string fence around their field, protecting their crops,” said Gibson.

Another approach involves mixing crushed, dried chillies with animal dung into a “chilli brick”.

These are burnt at night, carrying an extremely noxious smoke that will repel even the most ravenous pachyderm.

“Electric fences are clearly not an option for a small-scale farmer because of the costs, so they have to use other means to keep the elephants out,” said Gibson.

An extremely noxious smoke that will repel even the most ravenous pachyderm Eighty farmers are involved in the Zambezi Valley chilli project and they have an added incentive to grow the hot peppers – they can tap into the growing market of discerning consumers who want to buy “green products” that do not damage the environment.

From Kenya to Namibia, elephants and farmers are coming into closer contact as growing populations put pressure on land.

The animals can wipe out the annual harvests of entire villages with devastating consequences for the rural poor who often live on a knife-edge of survival.

Farmers crack whips, burn fires and beat drums to keep the animals out, but guarding their crops at night is dangerous, saps productivity and can leave them open to diseases like malaria.

Last month, Kenya began a massive operation to move 400 elephants from a crowded reserve on its Indian Ocean coast to protect the environment and reduce conflict with local people.

Elephants from Botswana sometimes thunder across the border into Namibia, trampling crops and sometimes even children.

“Human/wildlife conflicts are becoming more acute in Africa,” said Graeme Patterson of the World Conservation Society, which is based in the United States, one of the project's sponsors.

“Our belief is that unless you can resolve these conflicts, farmers will take things into their own hands. It's negative for people and wildlife,” he said.

The World Conservation Union – a body whose estimates on animal populations are among the most authoritative – said in June that elephant numbers in eastern and southern Africa were rising.

It said surveys showed elephant numbers in the two regions rose to 355 000 from 283 000 in the five years to 2002 – a growth rate of about 4,5 percent per year.

But human populations are also growing rapidly, stoking conflict with big animals and raising the stakes in the game to dangerous levels.

The Elephant Pepper Development Trust says farmers have resettled the Zambezi valley in large numbers in the last 20 years because of pressure on land elsewhere and they have found themselves competing with thousands of elephants.

Its chilli project aims to ease the tension, but the spin-off crops could also prove lucrative.

Three products have been launched under the label “Elephant Pepper” and have hit the shelves in South Africa, where the chillies grown in Zambezi are processed.

“Zambezi Red” is a sauce that claims to be “as hot as the valley from whence it comes”. A chilli jam and a chilli relish are also produced under the label. To drive the point home the labels proudly proclaim that “Elephants hate chilli”.

Turnover since March has only been around R250 000 but it is a start.

First tested in northern Zimbabwe, chilli deterrents are also used in Kenya, Sri Lanka, Laos and Thailand.

“We see a whole range of wildlife friendly products based on the concept that certain crops may be useful as barriers between humans and wildlife,” Patterson said.

Conservationists say the project is an innovative way to help subsistence farmers find markets for their cash crops while bringing some lasting peace between man and beast.



This article was originally published on page 7 of The Pretoria News on September 07, 2005