6 Minute English / Elephant-proof farming

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Hello. This is 6 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 programme we ll be hearing about ingenious farmers in Kenya who are keeping their food safe from hungry wild animals. And, as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary.

But first I have a question for you, Beth. Weighing around six tonnes, a fully grown African elephant needs to eat a lot every day, but how much exactly? Is it:

a) 50 kilograms of food per day?

b) 100 kilograms of food per day? or,