Sometimes you ’ve get to do what you ’ve got to do , and for Asian beloved bee ( Apis cerana ) , this means gathering BM in their mouthparts and fix mini - mounds of the stuff near the entrance to their nests .
" We describe for the first fourth dimension the singular employment byA. ceranaof faeces to defend their nest , a behavior that constitutes the first report of honey bee using a pecker – a non - plant solid – to deter attack by a dangerous marauder , ” drop a line the researcher inPLOS One .
To make this beautifully dingy discovery , the research worker monitor the bees over 10 days in Vietnam . playing field observations revealed thatA. ceranaworkers pull together poop in their mandibles , bombilate back with it to their colony , and apply the bunch as textured spots on the fronts of their hives ( called “ faecal catching ” ) .
The team also observed them pasture for ordure in a nearby chicken cage , hoard soap scum and , on one occasion , visit a container of human urine nearby . Another hive was dotted with mysterious bright blue spots that stump the investigator where it came from .
A study of 67 beekeepers who keptA. ceranacolonies revealed that 63 of them ( 94 % ) noticed fecal spots on their hives . The beekeepers had between three and 170 colonies , for an average of 15 colony each . Spots were report on 74 percent of the hive front end .
After learning of such muck - collecting demeanour , a few interrogation plop forth : Why do they do this ? How unique is this demeanor ? Are these stern spots really tool use ?
Why gather feces ?
Honey bees have a suite of defenses at their disposal to protect their larvae and golden goodness . In special , the honey bee in Asia have develop under what the research worker call “ tremendous predatory pressure ” from giant hornet ( Vespa soror ) , a redoubtable enemy that assault colonies by crushing , dismembering , and jaw fair game . The giant hornets are not there for the honey though , they seek the little larvae still in their hexangular cells , which provide a protein - productive meal for their own offspring .
A successful attack first starts with a lookout man hornet pass on a chemic shadow on the “ threshold ” of the bees ' home plate . The scout then recruits nestmates to attack and slaughter the bees , with each hornet up to of defeat thousands of bees . In a few hours , the entire nest ’s defense can be wiped out . Hornets later absorb the new territory , ward it as their own , and deliver the brood back to their nest to sustain their young .
There are several ways faecal catching could serve protect these dearest bees from such violent attacks . “ It is potential that fecal spot hold compound that are distasteful toV. sororattackers , ” write the investigator , adding that “ earwigs , for example , acquittance volatile that smell like stool to limit predation and Manduca sexta caterpillars defecate profusely on themselves as a defence against fire . ”
A second possibility is that fecal spotting masks the pheromones of a hornet watch that distinguish the bee bounty , thereby limiting a hornet visit to just one intruder rather than an barrage of encroacher .
Another method beloved bees employ to defend their nests is to “ poke fun ” wasps to demise with the heat of their bodies .
How alone is this behavior ?
Honey bee are known to forage for materials like flora ( nectar , pollen , rosin ) and fluids ( brackish water , sweat , and vertebrate urine ) . To protect nest families , “ defense can take the frame of forcible , chemical substance , and behavioral barriers , the combination of which are known as defense portfolio , ” spell the investigator .
In summation toearwigsand certain caterpillars using BM to their reward , the “ larvae of many chrysomelid beetle species repel insect and raspberry predators using fecal shields that they break on their back , in which plant defensive compounds that larvae have down are reprocess , ” write the investigator .
It ’s possible the “ filth foragers ” , as the squad call them , also sought specific chemical compound in the feces because they often returned to the same speckle on the dung scores and pulled at the material for a while before carrying it away .
Are these poop spots really tool use ?
The definition of prick role is controversial . The squad believe fecal spotting meets the four cardinal measure set up forth byShumaker and colleagues . First , the bee employ an outside environmental object ( in this case stool ) . second , they alter with “ purposiveness ” the physical object . Third , the bee direct pull wires the tool when they conduct the stool from a droppings pile and shape it with their mandibular bone around the nest . last , the bee point the tool , which in this case mean spotting it around the entry where attacking hornets breach .
