Bees using tools in nature

Bees using tools in nature

What would you say if there’s a bee holding a tool and going somewhere to do some work? It was hilarious and at the same time, it wasn’t a beautiful sight! Bees were wearing collecting animal feces and later spot them on the entrance of their hives. The reason was still completely unclear but the majority of scientists think that this is a strategy for chasing giant hornets, bee’s natural predators. 

Previously we could learn about the way how bees communicate-mostly by pheromones. When in danger, bee workers signal the rest of their colony to start vibrating and raise temps in the hive. This was a known strategy-high temperature will cook giant hornets. 

Now, there is this new way, working as an alternative and more as a precaution for the distraction of their natural enemies. 

“Spotting continued for days after attacks ceased and occurred in response to V. soror, which frequently landed at and chewed on entrances to breach nests, but not Vespa velutina, a smaller hornet that rarely landed at entrances. Moderate to heavy fecal spotting suppressed attempts by V. soror to penetrate nests by lowering the incidence of multiple-hornet attacks and substantially reducing the likelihood of them approaching and chewing on entrances.”(1)

After careful observations, it was noticed that bees don’t use this specific technique when any other enemy is endangering the hive. The only case for it was when giant hornets approach. Even a few days later, bees continue to collect dirt and spot it around the hive’s entrance. It is believed that noxious compounds are present in the filth and that this repels predators from nests. 

"A colony with moderate or heavy spotting on its hive had a reduced likelihood of visiting hornets landing at and chewing on its entrance, which was the only accessible entry point for attackers,”(1).

"If hornets did land on a hive, moderate to heavy spotting significantly reduced the time hornets spent attempting to breach the nest by landing near the entrance or chewing on it.”(1)

Reference

Heather R. Mattila, Gard W. Otis; Lien T.P. Nguyen, Hanh D. Pharm, Kight, Phan; Honey bees (Apis cerana) use animal feces as a tool to defend colonies against group attack by giant hornets (Vespa soror); 2020