Human–elephant conflicts continue to escalate as African elephants (Loxodonta africana) attempt to forage on cultivated crops. Chili pepper fencing is used as a deterrent but has varying success rates. These fences are constructed with crushed chili peppers, typically mixed in motor oil, placed on cloths, and strung around crop fields. This mixture is made using different formulas involving oil and sometimes water, but each takes advantage of the “heat” and discomfort produced from capsaicinoids, the active ingredients in chili peppers. Using LC–MS technology, we examined some of these formulas and preparation methods. The development of this methodology is to our knowledge the first time this type of analysis has been conducted with chili and motor oil mixtures. By examining the differences in Scoville Heat Units (SHU), we confirmed that mixing with oil played an important role and that the SHU was no different by boiling crushed chilis in water before combining with oil compared to directly combining the crushed peppers with oil. Allowing the crushed peppers to remain in the mixture rather than filtering before mixing showed only a slight benefit. This LC–MS methodology provides a new tool for conservationists to compare the efficacy of chili fence formulas, which may allow for improvement of this deterrent method via further field testing.

中文翻译：

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量化用于大象威慑围栏的辣椒和机油混合物中的辣椒素类化合物

随着非洲象（Loxodonta Africana）试图在农作物上觅食，人象冲突继续升级。辣椒击剑被用作一种威慑，但成功率各不相同。这些围栏是用压碎的辣椒建造的，通常混合在机油中，放在布上，并串在农田周围。这种混合物是使用不同的配方制成的，包括油，有时是水，但每种配方都利用了辣椒中的活性成分辣椒素产生的“热量”和不适感。我们使用 LC-MS 技术检查了其中一些配方和制备方法。据我们所知，这种方法的发展是首次对辣椒油和机油混合物进行此类分析。通过检查斯科维尔热量单位 (SHU) 的差异，我们证实，与油混合发挥了重要作用，与直接将碎辣椒与油混合相比，在与油混合之前将碎辣椒在水中煮沸的 SHU 没有什么不同。让粉碎的辣椒留在混合物中而不是在混合前过滤只显示出轻微的好处。这种 LC-MS 方法为保护主义者提供了一种新工具来比较辣椒围栏公式的功效，这可能允许通过进一步的现场测试改进这种威慑方法。