The Busiest of Bees

The Busiest of Bees  (The Queen Part II)

Scouts, Inspectors and the  “Shakers”.  AS IF bees haven’t been observed enough for thousands of years, there is and seems there always will bee,  more to learn.     Dr. Heather Mattila’s fifteen years of research at Wellesley College in  Massachusetts continues to define the specialized classes  of the worker bees and their specialized jobs.

The x-y axis of a graph: this high, this big, this far, time elapsed, is the graphic proof of scientific research. The numbers of data simplified to a crooked line (or a wavy one), some coloured apartment towers, dancing dots. In the watching and counting of the bees by a crew research students, unquantifiable surprises are revealed. Ethology, the study of animal behaviour, is a word Professor and Hobbyist stumbled over. Entomology being the Study of insects. Latin . . . it happens. If the Queen has been “well mated” with the biggest, strongest and fastest drones,  she will provide offspring who will be the best of the foragers. The success of the hive depends on the efforts of the foragers and those graphs illustrate the benefits of diverse genetics.

In the ‘zoo’ of bees, we find classifications of the foragers. The scouts, those bees that fly away to find the sources of nectar- and don’t necessarily bring back anything, because they have a sense of adventure and want to go our and find MORE . . . to be continued it’s Christmas prep-time

Author: Rita Komendant

I am a 'one off'. Studied in Architecture, observer of the human condition. I will fight with all my life experience thus far when 'a situation' arises that needs my voice in words. Nature is my Temple. View all posts by Rita Komendant