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I've only read news about this from bad sources and this one did not clarify my misconceptions either. Someone who has read better news than I, please set me st
by exDM69 14y ago
I've only read news about this from bad sources and this one did not clarify my misconceptions either. Someone who has read better news than I, please set me straight on this simple thing.
Are the "zombie" bees in question:
1) Undead creatures or
2) Normal bees that been infected by a parasite and acting against their nature?
In other words, is there a parasite that causes dead bees to come to life? Or is the "zombie" metaphor used to indicate that they don't really have a will and mind of their own?
I feel really stupid asking this, but all the news I've read have been incredibly badly written. You can only imagine how bad the Finnish translations of this news have been, given the quality of the original English articles.
- narad 14y ago"honey bees that have been parasitized by the Zombie Fly Apocephalus borealis." [1] [1] https://www.zombeewatch.org/ https://www.zombeewatch.org/
- grinch 14y agoMost surely is "2)normal bees...". Also it's written at the beginning of the article that this parasite modifies the usual habits of a bee. And also a parasite loves living bodies, because is a parasite; so the "zombie bees" is just a metaphor.
- mythobit 14y agoIt appears to be a parasite taking control of the host. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocephalus_borealis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocephalus_borealis http://news.discovery.com/animals/parasite-bees-zombies-010512.html http://news.discovery.com/animals/parasite-bees-zombies-0105...
- exDM69 14y agoThank you, sir! I feel 1000% less stupid now.
- jentulman 14y agoAt least they avoided a 'zombees' pun. I'm not sure I could have resisted.
- sangfroid 14y agoIt's actually not an uncommon behavior for a sick bee to leave the hive. They do this so that they will die outside and protect the rest of the colony. http://peacebeefarm.blogspot.com/2011/01/protection-by-behavior.html http://peacebeefarm.blogspot.com/2011/01/protection-by-behav...