Posted on 03/17/2010 9:43:10 PM PDT by fishhound
The secret of honey bees' success has been discovered living deep inside their hives - a special type of bee which acts like a living radiator, warming the nest and controlling the colony's complex social structure.
The "heater bees" have been found to play a crucial, and previously unappreciated, role in the survival of honey bee colonies.
Using new technology that allows sceintists to see the temperature inside the bee hives, researchers have been able to see how heater bees use their own bodies to provide a unique form of central heating within a hive.
They have found that these specialised bees, whose body temperatures are considerably higher than other bees in the colony, not only keep the hive warm but also control the social make-up within a colony.
Bees, and other social insects such as ants, share jobs within a colony so each individual has specific role that benefits the colony as a whole.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Nice to see a science article devoid of any reference to the lies of AL Gore.
Interesting!
“Heater bees”?
I had no idea bees had hot flashes.
Definitely heats up the bed....
Enough of them, the hive?
Interesting!!
Someone is going to have to remake that documentary “Secret Life of Bee’s” now.
I’m sure that was the very first image from a google search. lol.
Thanks.
Wing decoupling, very interesting. It would be interesting to find out why the heater bees don’t cook themselves.
God makes cool stuff!
That’s a good question.
Spelling Bees. Heating Bees. What won’t they think of next - a philosophy based on Descartes’ “To Bee or Not to Bee?”
She’s some Honey Bee. Like the stripes and wings. Buzzz!
Hmmm, I am suddenly feeling alot warmer.
Ice bees fly around them just in the nick of time.
Very interesting. I started beekeeping last year. After a strong season of build up and some honey production, my hives went into the winter looking pretty strong. By January they both had died off. It will be interesting to see if this new discovery will be looked at in regards to colony collapse disorder, which up to now, is not understood. Maybe the “heater” bees don’t heat like they used to sometimes.
Heat is how Japanese honey bees kill the Japanese giant hornet—they swarm the hornet when it invades the nest and vibrate, the bees can withstand a few higher degrees than the hornet. European honey bees just get slaughtered.
Freegards
Same here.
Started last May.
Strong through fall.
Flying in a warm spell first week January.
Dead after a brutal cold snap two weeks later.
A lot of people here in MA lost their bees.
yikes.......
All in the name of social stability.
It’s not suffocation...but heat?
That’s interesting.
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