We all know how vital bees are to our lives, pollinating one-third of the foods and vegetables we eat. But is it even possible that may-bee bees could bee (clumsy puns intended) bad? As it turns out, these hard-working helpers do indeed have a dark side… or at least one species does anyways.
Vespa mandarinia. The Asian giant hornet. Total pests that swarm Asia, Europe, and now, North America. These are creatures with beady black or brown eyes slapped onto a light orange head, set upon an orange and black striped thorax with wings of span 35 to 76 millimetres, and finally ending with a six millimetre weapon of mass destruction more commonly known as a stinger. This pesky menace might seem small to us, but poses a large threat to the relatively smaller pollinating honey bees.
They are certainly deserving of their nickname “murder bees.” With their inability to lose their stinger upon use, hornets can murder an entire nest or hive of bees within minutes. It seems a little unjust that the honey bees work their entire lives to gather pollen and make honey, only for the big bully hornets to come along and steal it all.
Now, enough of me droning on about why and how murder bees are bad. What are our pollinating pals doing to defend themselves?
As we know from evolution, organisms adapt accordingly to their changing environment. So let’s see some of the sweet ways bees are fighting against their evil cousins.
Giant honeybees, typically found in south-east Asia, when confronted with murder bees, gather in a swarm and practice a movement called “shimmering.” In essence, the giant honey bees are doing the wave, but instead of cheering the hornet on, it is used to make themselves appear “bigger” and frighten it away. Similar to how when you are confronted with a bear, making yourself appear bigger is likely to make the bear leave you alone. It is also incredible to see how each individual giant honey bee works perfectly in sync to create bee-witching motions to fight a common enemy.
Another incredible species of bees is the Japanese honey bee. Now these bees like to play as if straight out of a classic crime-boss movie.
A single female hornet scouts the area for honey bee nests or hives in which to steal food. The Japanese honey bees are usually safe, since their nest location is typically hidden, though that doesn’t mean that they encounter hornet trouble. When the hornet scout discovers the secret location of the Japanese honey bee, she releases pheromones to signal to her sisters to come attack. The honey bees don’t appear to react, at first, to the unusual intrusion of the hornet, but they have tricks up their sleeves that they are waiting to expel. Not until the very last moment, the honey bees swarm the single hornet and trap her. They then proceed to raise their body temperature to approximately 46 degrees celsius (115 degrees fahrenheit). The hornet, unable to withstand the heat, is cooked alive. Fortunately for the Japanese honey bees, the secret of their location dies with the scout.
As morbid as that sounds, bees had to find a way to adapt to survive the brutal attacks of the hornets. As we all know, bees are endangered species, and their disappearance will cause a major disruption to the ecosystem. Plants, animals, humans… bees affect us all.
In a harsh, changing environment, with a major responsibility to play in the world’s ecosystem, and the threat of extinction, bees, you better bee-leaf it, do not let themselves be stopped, especially by other bees.