20K Bees Chased a Car for 2 Days to Rescue Their Queen Bee

[eridani]

First heard of this on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me and checked it out

http://www.nationofchange.org/news/2016/05/29/20k-bees-chased-car-2-days-rescue-queen-bee/

Carol Howarth had no idea that when she parked her car in the town of Haverfordwest, Wales, chaos would ensue. As it turns out, a queen bee was attracted to the vehicle and accidentally got caught.

As a result, a swarm of 20,000 bees began hovering near the car as Howarth ran errands. The sight attracted the attention of a local man named Tom Moses, who was concerned that the bees would be poorly handled. (After all, bees’ numbers are on the decline thanks to the toxic effects of glyphosate-containing herbicides) For this reason, he called in a team of beekeepers.

Moses told the press:

“It was spectacular. I was driving through when I spotted the big brown splodge. A lot of people were really amazed by it, cars were slowing down and people were taking pictures of it.”

“I was a little bit concerned, with it being in the middle of town outside a pub, that someone might do something stupid and get hurt or do something stupid and hurt the bees,” he added.

[silvershadow]

1. This was all the buzz at the office cooler.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. K&R! Wow! What an incredible story!

I've been buzzed by bees when I've taken my dog out recently. They way they hover, it really does look like they're on a specific mission!

[Ghost Dog]

4. They are hive-minds...

Collective intelligences.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Thank you!

I did not know that! I tend to anthropomorphize, but the two of them that were hovering over my head really did seem to be communicating with each other!

[Ghost Dog]

6. Yeah. Just imagine...

... Once we've programmed swarms of drones to behave like that...

[Rhiannon12866]

7. That's exactly what drones appear like to me

And probably why they creep me out a little, look like big intelligent insects...

[nxylas]

3. Sounds a lot like DU right now

Oh come on, you were all thinking it.

[Surya Gayatri]

8. Busy, busy, busy...just busy little bees. Hope they all found a happy new hive.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

9. Who couted the damned bees. Introduced species - African Bees, have destroyed honey production...

[Happyhippychick]

10. This happened to my family. A queen decided to nest at our house under the picnic table.

We had to call a bee expert, he estimated we had 1,000,000 bees. He put some "perfect habitat" boxes out to attract the queen and once she flew in the others eventually followed. We learned a lot about her drones and how they scope out the habitats for her, it was very cool. Except for the part where we were trapped in our house for 2 days.

[kentauros]

15. I wish my landlord had done something like that

when there was a massive hive over my apartment bedroom (in the rafter-space between my ceiling and the flat roof) for two years! But, he's always been a "let Nature take its course" kind of landlord, as with how he dealt with the bat colony that moved in after the bees were gone...

[MisterP]

11. "We kidnap the queen, extract her alarm pheromones, place them on a flushable wipe, and put that in

his bathroom"
--Dwight Schrute

[Odin2005]

12. Eusocial insects are fucking amazing.

[Hortensis]

13. Great story. Thanks, Eridani!

[GreatGazoo]

14. this is the season when hives split and swarm

If the Queen was out of the hive they may have been swarming.

There is an old english saying:

A swarm in May is worth a load of hay
A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon
but a swarm in July is not worth a fly

meaning that there is less time for the hive to get established and produce honey as the summer elapses.

[mindwalker_i]

16. I get this image of 20,000 Hillary supporters

... chasing a cop car.