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"[The European honey bee] hasn’t stumbled upon the swarm countermeasure, so the hornet scout inevitably marks a European bee nest and returns with its friends."
by otoburb 11y ago
"[The European honey bee] hasn’t stumbled upon the swarm countermeasure, so the hornet scout inevitably marks a European bee nest and returns with its friends."
Given how devastatingly effective these hornets are, the honey bee swarming behaviour seems to be a completely "over-the-top" reaction that thankfully works for them, although the bees (surely?) have no idea why.
Have any beekeepers been successful teaching European (or any other type of) honey bees new, complex behaviours? If they have, how do newly acquired behavrioual patterns spread beyond the initial target hive?
- WoodenChair 11y agoHow do you go about "teaching European honey bees new, complex behaviors"?
- otoburb 11y agoThat's exactly what I'm wondering - whether there have been any instances of deliberate human-caused epigenetic changes in bees. In light of @ansible's sister comment that worker bees only live a few months, teaching or learning any new behaviour, let alone one as complex as recognizing and swarming an intruder to death, seems to be even more unlikely.
- Qworg 11y agoBees are a eusocial organism. While individual bees are dumb/unable to understand their actions, as a whole, bees are remarkably intelligent. Bees already swarm and kill intruders, but simply lack the understanding of how to bake the wasps. I think a cross breeding program may take care of that issue - but hybridization can bring other problems (see African bees mixing with European).
- ansible 11y agoUh, they're bees. The workers only live a few months. You're not going to "teach" them anything. We'd be looking at genetic modification to get new instincts into a particular species of bee.
- j_m_b 11y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera_training https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera_training