While humans struggle to identify insects by the sound they make, other animals are closely attuned to sounds that some insects make and have no problem identifying them. In matters of life and death, animals pay attention.
Few insects are as deadly to large mammals as African honey bees. African honey bees are the same species as our domestic honey bees, but without the domestication that has made honey bees “tame” enough for beekeepers to manage. African bees are aggressive and defend their nest in greater numbers and at greater distances than domesticated bees. Unwary animals can die if stung by hundreds of bees. Thus, animals pay attention to the sound of ‘disturbed’ African bees.
Honey Bee
Writing in the
Journal, PLoS One, Lucy King and colleagues describe experiments using recordings of African honey bees,
Apis mellifera scutella. African elephants will respond to the sound of disturbed African bees by rapidly retreating from the area. The elephants will engage in head-shaking and dusting, behaviors that could afford protection against stinging. The elephants also make vocalizations that elicit flight behavior in other elephants. These signals keep the elephant herd out of the way of dangerous aggressive bees.
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About jjneal
Jonathan Neal is an Associate Professor of Entomology at Purdue University and author of the textbook, Living With Insects (2010).
This blog is a forum to communicate about the intersection of insects with people and policy. This is a personal blog.
The opinions and materials posted here are those of the author and are in no way connected with those of my employer.
Africanized honey bees have been an issue in Arizona. Would this be an example of an invasive species, or is it an alteration in the behavior of our domestic honey bees? If it is invasive, how does that happen with bees? I know some termite species find themselves in new geographic areas when colonies are transported in imported lumber or other infested wood. Control of those species can be challenging, even increasing control costs: http://termiteshq.com/termite-treatment-cost/ Do beekeepers in the U.S. have problems controlling africanized honey bees due to their more aggressive behavior?
Regards,
TermitesHQ
The African Honey bees were brought to Brazil by a bee breeder who tried to develop a bee that was better adapted to the tropics. Alas, the bees escaped, mated with domestic bees and began a slow migration across South America, north through Central America and Mexico and into Arizona.
Neither domestic honey bees, nor the African Bees are native to North America.
That’s incredible! I had no idea that domestic honey bees were not native to North America. There seems to be quite a bit of rhetoric over the last few years regarding the domestic honey bee and poor pollination due to dwindling populations in some areas. Proponents of permaculture like to suggest urban beekeeping as a potential solution. How much of this is fact? In the past, before species we consider domestic honey bees arrived in North America, how was that function accomplished?
There are many native pollinators- bees, flies, beetles, insects of many kinds.
Some types of commercial orchards must be honey bee pollinated, because the trees flower for a brief period and there is nothing else to support the native pollinators the rest of the year. It is necessary to import large numbers of bees for a short period.
Honey bees can increase crop yield if there are not enough native pollinators otherwise. There are some growers who set out structures to encourage orchard mason bees, bumble bees in greenhouses. Growers will stick with what works and adopt other methods if they work better or cost less.