It is certainly one way to defend a home: Scientists have observed that Asian honeybees collect chicken feces, buffalo dung and even human urine, then smear it around the entrances of their nests to stop attacks from marauding giant hornets.
The pungent practice is the first documented case of honeybees collecting non-plant matter, and the first clear example that they can use a “tool” — in this case, excrement.
A team led by Heather Mattila at Wellesley College published a study on the phenomenon in the journal PLOS ONE on Wednesday.
Photo: AFP
“We’re adding another, rather complicated defense that Asian honeybees have to an already impressive list of defenses they have to prevent these hornets from destroying their colonies,” she said.
It was previously known that honeybees, famous for their prolific collection of resources, have devised an array of strategies to deflect attacks from predators.
These include physically shielding their colonies, performing synchronized body shakes or wave-like displays, or enveloping intruders in a ball until they overheat.
Giant hornets, which are four to five times bigger than honeybees, are well-armored killing machines with a venomous sting, and powerful mandibles for crushing, dismembering and chewing prey.
A scout hornet can find a honeybee nest, chemically mark it, and then recruit up to 50 of its own nestmates for a wholesale slaughter — killing thousands of their targets before occupying their home.
In the new study, Mattila and her colleagues observed three apiaries in Vietnam, where one beekeeper had informed them that the strange spots seen on honeybee nests came from water buffalo dung.
“We thought that’d be crazy, because bees don’t collect dung,” Mattila said.
The team confirmed that the honeybees were indeed collecting dung and other excrement, which they applied around their nest entrances in response to visits by giant hornets, but not in response to visits from smaller, less threatening hornet species.
They also found that colonies that were exposed to secretions from glands that giant hornets use to mark nests for attack had more fecal spots around their nest entrance after six hours than colonies exposed to a control substance.
Hornets were less likely to land on nest entrances with large numbers of fecal spots and they spent 94 percent less time chewing at the entrance if they did land.
The authors wrote that the animal feces may contain compounds that deter the hornets. Or, it might be masking the chemical markers the hornets put down to target colonies for mass attacks.
“The use of animal feces by Asian honeybees showcases the impressive suite of weapons they have evolved to defend their colonies against one of their most dangerous predators,” they said.
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Packed crowds in India celebrating their cricket team’s victory ended in a deadly stampede on Wednesday, with 11 mainly young fans crushed to death, the local state’s chief minister said. Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket final on Tuesday night. However, the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending.” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the deceased are young, with 11 dead
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS