When you think about beethe image that comes to mind is that of laborious insects, always investigated to bottle flowers and produce honey. But something absolutely unusual can also occur in their world: Some end up drunk.
It really happens, especially in the hottest periods, when the nectar harvest begins to ferment due to high temperatures. This natural fermentation produces ethanoland once ingested by the bees, it has on their effects similar to those that alcohol has on humans.
The bees that take this altered nectar show bizarre behaviors: they fly in a climbing waymove zigzag, they walk in a clumsy wayremain with the proboscis outside and, in some cases, they become even more aggressive. Some seem completely spoxate, unable to return to the hive, and end up lying on the ground with the air legsmoving them in the void as in the grip of an existential crisis.
They want to prevent contaminated honey from being produced
But the most fascinating part of this story concerns the collective response of the riverbed. Bees are not tolerant at all with the behaviors that put the order of the colony at risk. In fact there are real ones guardian beesa sort of “Books” of the animal world, which preside the entrance of the hive.
When a visibly altered bee tries to return, it comes blocked. In extreme cases, the guardians can reach break your legs of unfortunate, a brutal but effective gesture to prevent behavior from spreading or being produced contaminated honey.
This mechanism of self -regulation It represents a highly advanced social strategy. The bees, in fact, favor the collective survival with respect to the deviated behavior of the individual. And that’s not all: even in the laboratory, it has been observed that the “brille” bees lose the ability to communicate effectively, of orientate and to carry out the normal activities of foraging.
Even if it can make you smile imagining an “alticcia” bee, this phenomenon tells a lot about the social sophistication of these insects. In the universe of bees, the discipline It is essential, and those who do not respect the rules … remain outside the hive.
