BEE-HAVE!

Incredible video shows honeybees SLAPPING ants with their wings & sending them flying in a new attempt to protect nests

Ants can pose a significant threat to bee hives.

Japanese honey bees have been captured using a new technique called "wing-slapping" to protect their hives from intruding ants.

Bees have long used the flapping force of their wings as a defence mechanism that literally blows ants away.

Advertisement
The behaviour was captured by Yugo Seko, Kiyohito Morii, and Yoshiko Sakamoto of the National Institute for Environmental StudiesCredit: National Institute for Environmental Studies
The team photographed the ant-swatting with a high-speed camera, showing the bees rotating their bodies and flicking ants away with their wingsCredit: National Institute for Environmental Studies
The effectiveness of their "wing-slapping" varied depending on what species of ants the bees were contending withCredit: National Institute for Environmental Studies
Ants eat bee larvae and can quickly take over entire hives, which may push a weak bee colony to collapseCredit: National Institute for Environmental Studies

But the Japanese variety of honey bees have displayed an entirely new, never before recorded, behaviour.

The behaviour was captured by Yugo Seko, Kiyohito Morii, and Yoshiko Sakamoto of the National Institute for Environmental Studies.

“I myself did not notice this behavior during my approximately 10 years of beekeeping experience,” Sakamoto told New Scientist.

The team photographed the ant-swatting with a high-speed camera, showing the bees rotating their bodies and flicking ants away with their wings.

Advertisement

The interaction was recorded in the video above.

The video shows three local species of ants walking towards the entrance of two Japanese honey bee colonies.

The effectiveness of their "wing-slapping" varied depending on what species of ants the bees were contending with.

Japanese queenless ants and Japanese pavement ants were fended off fairly successfully, with half to about one-third of bee whacks flinging the ants away.

Advertisement

Most read in Science

'BIO-DUCK'
Listen to unknown pulse deep in ocean that has baffled scientists for decades
NOTE FROM PAST
World’s oldest WRITING found in ancient tomb…but what it says is a mystery
SHORELY NOT?
Terrifying Doomsday fish keep washing up - and it could be a bad omen
SPACED OUT
Bizarre change to astronaut’s minds detected after long trips to ISS

Whereas "wing-slapping" Japanese wood ants, a larger and faster variety, was not as successful.

Family's horror discovery as colony of almost 200,000 BEES found in ceiling after children heard buzzing

Experts believe Japanese honey bees have evolved combative measures to protect their hives - but they're unsure why.

Morii added: "These defensive behaviours still hold many mysteries."

Ants vs Bees

Ants can pose a significant threat to bee hives.

They are always looking for a warm, safe place to lay larvae and have a steady source of food - and bee hives are an ideal place for that.

While they may vary in their level of menace, some ant species can bite or even kill worker bees.

They also eat bee larvae and can quickly take over entire hives, which may push a weak bee colony to collapse.

That is, if the bees are unable to fight off an invasion.

Bees have evolved a fanning defence mechanism that can blow away ants.

But the newly discovered "wing-slapping" method may be a more efficient option, researchers have suggested.

Topics
Advertisement
machibet777.com