Bees are not the first animals to practice and observe social distancing. For example, it has been previously determined that ants avoid cleaning infected individuals or realize that they are infected with a fungus, reducing the risk of spreading the infection by moving away from their nests.
In this research, led by a group of scientists from the Center for Biodiversity and Environmental Studies, honey bee colonies against infestations from a harmful mite; It has been proven that they increase social distance between young and old bees and change their interactions between nestmates.
“Honey bees are also social animals”
Bees are social animals, just like all sentient individuals. While living together, they lead a mutual life with responsibilities and interactions. Honeybee colonies have two main compartments, internal and external. The outer chamber is occupied by foragers, while the inner chamber is inhabited by nurses, queens and brood bees. Thanks to this separation, the queen, young bees and brood are protected from the external environment and thus diseases. The scientists studied the behavior of individuals in the hive in response to infestation, comparing colonies with and without infestation. As a result of the examination, it was seen that a behavior that could increase mite infestation was less common in the middle parts of the hive. The researchers said that old foraging bees usually move towards the edges of the hive in the face of a possible infestation, while young bees move towards the center.
One of the researchers, Dr. Dr. Michelina Pusceddu, who underlined that bees have evolved to fight pathogens and parasites, said, “With this study, we obtained the first evidence of changes in the social interactions of honey bees in response to a common parasite and changes in their movements in the hives. The increase in the social distance between the two bee groups shows how honey bees fight the factors that threaten their health. Dr. Pusceddu stated that with this study, they proved that the changes in the social structure of bees in the face of any disease threat and their ability to reduce contact between individuals enable them to minimize the risk of infectious diseases when necessary. In addition, this behavior of honeybee colonies is to examine social distance and how much. He stated that it is an ideal model to understand how effective it is.
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