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TRADUZIR |  |
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England - late 1980's
Case 1 - "Late in summer, went into one of the outhouses adjoining the cottage. These were ex-laundry and bakery sheds from a bygone era, when the "big house" ruled. They were not cheerful, draped in huge cobwebs with large vigorous spiders.
So didn't often visit
Perhaps the muted buzzing drew me there. In the shed the cobwebs hung down in my face. A circle on dusty floor from large bumble bee too exhausted to fly but still booming around, tangling with webs
Brushing into large webs near dark corners, whence a great gray spider would advance in a rush, sometimes almost grappling the bee. But each time it wrenched free to buzz across floor and tangle another web - face rush of another monster
Too much. Admiring bee bravery - how long had it fought its battle, gradually sinking to the floor - made me help.
Grabbing some shards of seed box and potato bags I scooped up the bee and made for the door.
[Long ago found human voice calms some angry / trapped social insects: wasps, bees and butterflies etc.
Out in the yard, in a corner protected from the cool breeze, put the dusty / bedraggled bee on a protruding brick where it might recover in the afternoon sunshine. No great hopes for its survival at this time of the year but went to find it some food
Brown sugar seemed suitable - few drops of water on a spoonful until almost liquid, took it out to the bee.
During absence she'd started to clean off webs and dust but still seemed weak and slow
Moved her to a sunny fence-top where I could place a large drop of liquid demerara before it. After a second or so she extended a beautifully coiled black tongue into the brown blob and began to feed
Feeding took some time and was interspaced with grooming, until she began to look bigger and brighter
(Large queen Bombus terrestris, brightly colored, with a vivid tail-band)
She eventually drained almost whole spoonful, and seemed to be enjoying its wing and body grooming
The bee finished feeding, finished grooming and without change in tempo went into spasmodic movements
Dismayed I watched, then began to realize that the movements had a rhythm and repetition that looked like a dance
This must have lasted for half a minute or so, with quite a bit of stamping and nodding
Finally she stopped the dance and, fresh and gleaming, lifted off and droned away to the south over quiet gardens, flying in a straight path and seemingly assured of her destination.
I wished her luck and forgot the incident."
Case 2 - "Ten miles to the west and some years later, beside a road in Wales. Reading in yard when a small bumble bee walked from the road - the west - in an uncertain and uncoordinated way.
It was not fully grown and seemed damaged. Its left wing was small - perhaps ripped
Remembering the other bee I put it in the center of yard and got a spoon of liquid brown sugar for it.
Again the coiled tongue unrolled and the small bee fed, taking about half of the liquid (probably her own bodyweight) during twenty minutes or so.
Again this bee groomed herself in between feedings and began to look more competent as she fed
As details of previous incident almost forgotten, it was a shock to see the stamping and nodding start
Eventually the bee walked away to the bushes where she may have found shelter to recover from her injury"
Bees are social animals - as we are - and seem to communicate in two ways:-
On the primitive level, attack signal and mating signals are sent by pheromones or scent.
On a higher level bees communicate by movement and sound - in researched cases of the honeybee conveying a great deal of information to colleagues by what is called dance
Observations show that a lone bee finding food does not perform a ritual dance, but if the bee is helped to food by another bee it does go through the ritual. Seems the only difference is the bee's awareness of the presence of a benefactor - a giver of food.
Was the ritual dance an attempt to say "thank you" to a human, as if helped by another bee?
We'd be interested in similar experiences, or any use of the "voice-calming" mentioned above
Later update on bees - 9 Dec. 2005
"Bees can recognize human faces, study finds"
"Is the only challenge in the world to be greed and viciousness? ~ Is the only satisfying power the power of the ascent over men, the only dream, ambition? ~ And must the alternative to greed, evil, ambition - be only sluggishness?" Tanith Lee 'Deliriums's Mistress' |
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