Bees

LeicesterLad

Ignore the fact that i was watching the One Show.

If you saw it, you will know. Them there bee's! Amazing!

(yes i'm a bit of a nature geek)

CambsNewbie

Yes it was amazing..

Shows how little we still know of the world we live in..

evil_breakfast

LeicesterLad wrote:

Ignore the fact that i was watching the One Show.

If you saw it, you will know. Them there bee's! Amazing!

(yes i'm a bit of a nature geek)

There was a BBC4 documentary on a while ago, about bees and the "killer virus" that's now a problem.
Found it to be extremely interesting.
Might break the habit of a lifetime and watch the above on IPlayer

LeicesterLad

evil_breakfast wrote:

LeicesterLad wrote:

Ignore the fact that i was watching the One Show.

If you saw it, you will know. Them there bee's! Amazing!

(yes i'm a bit of a nature geek)

There was a BBC4 documentary on a while ago, about bees and the "killer virus" that's now a problem.
Found it to be extremely interesting.
Might break the habit of a lifetime and watch the above on IPlayer

Its worth it...

Basically the jist of it was training bee's in a matter of minutes to sniff out bombs and drugs (sounds crazy) but it works, alot better than dogs! (dogs generally take ages to train)

capt_slog

I felt sorry for the poor little buggers. It looked like they were imprisoned in printer cartridges!

LeicesterLad

Capt Slog wrote:

I felt sorry for the poor little buggers. It looked like they were imprisoned in printer cartridges!

yeh, the missus and i were concerned about how their welfare would be managed...

McBain_v1

Didn't see it, but seriously... training bees to sniff out explosives? That's amazing. How do they let the handlers know that they've found some, do they all hover around it, sting the shit outta whomever they are on, do a little dance, spell out "BOMB" in little bees??

I thought that they were all dying out and we were going to all suffer due to a lack of pollinators?

Kendal Black Drop

They stick their tongues out!

The bees are encased in a container with a sensor in front of them. When they smell the drugs/explosives etc they stick their tongues out which triggers the sensor which turns a light on alerting the handler.

Alinshearah

Bees make Honey
Wasps make Jam (unless you feed them oranges when they make marmalade)

cornerblock

Some of the sniffer dogs are not happy at all, and are not willing to give up their jobs without a fight.

LeicesterLad

Cornerblock wrote:

Some of the sniffer dogs are not happy at all, and are not willing to give up their jobs without a fight.

Ive never laughed so hard at 8am in the morning!

As for bee's and the pollinator debate, yes, they are probably the single most important species on the plannet, without them, no food, no oxygen. They are under threat from a specific disease, wiping out collonies, in fact the 'wild' honey bee is very rare, nearly all of the honey bee's you will see will belong to a domesticated hive.

As for mentioning wasps in the same thread. Bee's, amazing. Wasps, satan in a stripey suit :evil:

Yossie

This is actually a serious question:

What do wasps actually do? And flies - apart from spread disease, what do they they do.

Serious answers only please as I've never actually known.

capt_slog

Yossie wrote:

This is actually a serious question:

What do wasps actually do? And flies - apart from spread disease, what do they they do.

Serious answers only please as I've never actually known.

Do you mean their purpose on the planet? Do they have to have one?

Yossie

Both their purpose on the planet and what do they actually do, as on a day to basis - like we get up, scratch scrote, wash, go to work, scratch scrote, look at burds, ride home, scratch scrote, go to bed, scratch scrote.

And as part of nature's great miracle, I thought that everything had a putrpose/raison d'etre - or am I being naive?

capt_slog

Yossie wrote:

Both their purpose on the planet and what do they actually do, as on a day to basis - like we get up, scratch scrote, wash, go to work, scratch scrote, look at burds, ride home, scratch scrote, go to bed, scratch scrote.

And as part of nature's great miracle, I thought that everything had a putrpose/raison d'etre - or am I being naive?

More idealistic than naive, but I understand your point.

I've always wondered about wasps as well, I suppose they just fill an evolutionary niche. To me they are just a bloody nuisance at picnics, and when I used to be a bee-keeper, they were a bloody nuisance in my bee-hives (they come in and rob the honey). Other than that they just seem to make holes in fruit.

Flies, I can see the point of. Without them and their maggots, we'd be knee deep in slowly rotting animals.

Cleat Eastwood

Bees are brilliant - in the Liverpool Museum they actually have a hive (near the coffee shop) with glass tubes that let you see the bees go hither and thither, fascinating, even in a city centre they go out looking for food - which to honest isnt that difficult as theres a tesco nearby, they do look funny though, being scouse bees all dressed up tracky bottoms and hoodies.

Yossie

Capt Slog wrote:

Yossie wrote:

Both their purpose on the planet and what do they actually do, as on a day to basis - like we get up, scratch scrote, wash, go to work, scratch scrote, look at burds, ride home, scratch scrote, go to bed, scratch scrote.

And as part of nature's great miracle, I thought that everything had a putrpose/raison d'etre - or am I being naive?

More idealistic than naive, but I understand your point.

I've always wondered about wasps as well, I suppose they just fill an evolutionary niche. To me they are just a bloody nuisance at picnics, and when I used to be a bee-keeper, they were a bloody nuisance in my bee-hives (they come in and rob the honey). Other than that they just seem to make holes in fruit.

Flies, I can see the point of. Without them and their maggots, we'd be knee deep in slowly rotting animals.

So are flies just like nature's garbage removal men?

Anyone else on wasps'?

napoleond

I may use bees to find the drugs on my next big sting. Hahhahahhahahahaahagahshalolrofl see what I did there?

Yossie

NapoleonD wrote:

I may use bees to find the drugs on my next big sting. Hahhahahhahahahaahagahshalolrofl see what I did there?

Buzz off Nap

shockedsoshocked

Bees?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emgXwYWqd9Y

alanp23

I hate wasps too. They caused my worst bike accident - 9 stitches.

Won't bore you here with it, but if there was a comedy accident thread somewhere, I could put it there...

Bunneh

When I was walking to the Mrs house last weekend I was a bumble bee buzzing about the grass - it's January, someone should tell him!

LeicesterLad

Bunneh wrote:

When I was walking to the Mrs house last weekend I was a bumble bee buzzing about the grass - it's January, someone should tell him!

have you taken your medication today?

Bunneh

lol, sigh... I SAW a bee buzzing around. Engage brain before typing Mr Bunneh

Mccaria

We have had a couple of bee hives thisyear. One hive has UK bees, but the other has New Zealand bees as there is a shortage of swarms available in the UK. The NZ bees are a bit bigger than their UK equivalent and I've been waiting for them to lay down a hakka challenge ahead of a full on Hive war. Hasn't happened yet, sadly.

When the bees come back to the hive, if they have found a good place for nectar they do a little jig and the movement of their legs gives directions to the other bees of where to go. Its a bit like a Garmin for bees.

DIESELDOG

Bunneh wrote:

lol, sigh... I SAW a bee buzzing around. Engage brain before typing Mr Bunneh

Like that's ever going to happen

Love n hugs

DD

taff..

Wasps feed on a lot of other flying insects, it's all about the food chain, they eat littler flying things, bigger flying things eat them.

Alinshearah

A study tracking bees in Gateshead should that they regularly travel up to 5 miles into Newcastle to know food sources. The strange thing that when they do this they don't fly the direct route straight across the Tyne river, but prefer to fly using one of the bridges.