Study Shows Honeybees Instinctively Do Social Distancing When Faced With Parasite
HONEYBEES SOCIAL DISTANCING – The humble honeybees apparently no more than humans when it comes to protecting their community.
A recent study revealed that honeybees respond to a parasite infestation in a highly efficient manner. Much like what humans do today, the bees also use social distancing to keep their hive safe.
During the study, scientists presented a harmful into the hive. Because of this, the bees started to increase the distance between the younger bees and the older forager bees in the outmost layers of the hive.
According to an article from New Sky, Dr. Alessandro Cini, a co-author of the study explained:
Honeybees are a social animal, as they benefit from dividing up responsibilities and interactions such as mutual grooming, but when those social activities can increase the risk of infection, the bees appear to have evolved to balance the risks and benefits by adopting social distancing
Due to the presence of a “Varroa mite” in the colony, the bees began to segregate between the inner and outer compartments. As such, the spread of the parasite drastically slowed down.
The varroa mite, however, isn’t your ordinary mite. In fact, this creature is also known as the Varroa destructor. Furthermore, the mite can spread at least 5 viruses that can annihilate a bee colony.
Meanwhile, the lead author for the study, Dr. Michelina Pusceddu of the University of Sassari said the honeybees provide humans with the ideal structure for social distancing.
With the use of the bee’s social distancing, social interaction between bees is maximized where it is possible. Moreover, they reduce the threat of infectious disease when necessary.
Thanks for reading. We aim to provide our readers with the freshest and most in-demand content. Come back next time for the latest news here on Philnews.
READ ALSO: Scientists Train Bees To Detect COVID-19 In Mere Seconds