Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Bees Chase Car for Two Days to Rescue Their Queen
KFOR ^ | MAY 25, 2016

Posted on 05/25/2016 12:07:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway

This is the story of a ferocious army determined to rescue their queen from a metal fortress.

Or, viewed another way, a swarm of bees who, for two days, followed their queen bee trapped inside a Mitsubishi Outlander.

The Outlander belongs to Carol Howarth, a 68-year-old grandmother, who had no idea she’d picked up a tiny winged passenger when she visited a nature reserve.

Later, when she stopped to go shopping in Haverfordwest, West Wales, the bees descended – thousands and thousands of them.

Tom Moses, who works as a Pembrokeshire Coast National Park ranger, was driving by when he happened upon the raid.

“Driving through town noticed this going on outside the Lower Three Crowns and couldn’t resist getting involved!” he wrote in a pun-filled post on his Facebook page.

He was worried someone might do something “stupid.”

Bees are already dying from habitat loss and terrible farming practices, like pesticide use, he said. The last thing you want is someone to pour boiling water on them to shoo them away from a car.

So, he called in reinforcements — the intrepid folks at the Pembrokeshire Beekeepers Association

You’d think that would be the end of the story, but you’d be wrong.

The next morning, Howarth found the bees were back, she told The Telegraph.

So once again, out came the beekeepers.

By 6 p.m., her Outlander was free of the bees. (No word though on what happened to the queen.)

Moses says members of colonies often follow their queen bee if she moves hives.

And queens moves hives if the hives are disturbed — say, by humans. Or by the arrival of another queen bee.

He speculates the shiny warm Mitsubishi might have seemed like a good option for a new home.


TOPICS: Pets/Animals; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: bee; bees; queen; wales; wildlife


Video

1 posted on 05/25/2016 12:07:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: shibumi; Salamander; Vendome
Sting Ping


Bees are like chess. It's all about protecting the queen.

Checkmate.

2 posted on 05/25/2016 12:08:59 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
Never underestimate the power of pheromones.
3 posted on 05/25/2016 12:14:06 PM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Simple solution:

Drive into a dome stadium and turn the A/C down real low. I saw it in a movie once.


4 posted on 05/25/2016 12:17:40 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

I see what you did there


5 posted on 05/25/2016 12:24:48 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway; Salamander; Vendome; Nifster
The Queen was incognito.

Trying to blend dontchaknow?


6 posted on 05/25/2016 12:27:26 PM PDT by shibumi (Vampire Outlaw of the Milky Way)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Oh man


7 posted on 05/25/2016 12:39:25 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shibumi

Looks like a Chicago Cubs Center Fielder


8 posted on 05/25/2016 12:45:20 PM PDT by YOMO
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

9 posted on 05/25/2016 12:51:00 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: YOMO
Baseball epithets are wasted on me.

I'm into action sports.

Like Women's Curling.


10 posted on 05/25/2016 12:58:17 PM PDT by shibumi (Vampire Outlaw of the Milky Way)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway
Coulda been a turtle


11 posted on 05/25/2016 1:15:50 PM PDT by Daffynition ("We have the fight of our lives coming up to save our nation!" ~ Jim Robinson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

12 posted on 05/25/2016 1:39:37 PM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shibumi

Well, you’ve talked me into it . . .


13 posted on 05/25/2016 1:43:59 PM PDT by pilipo (We are not free.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

When I was 10 I’d get $2 from our beekeeper landlord for bringing back a swarm like that. (he also taught me how to do it safely.) That was in 1956.


14 posted on 05/25/2016 5:07:40 PM PDT by BuffaloJack (The reason for Gun Control has always been Government's Fear of Rebellion.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Just a bunch of wanna bees


15 posted on 05/25/2016 5:23:15 PM PDT by George Washington Axe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson