Like setting off alarms in a beehive, Asian honeybees use complex signals to alert nest mates about giant hornet attacks, according to a new study co-led by University of Guelph researchers.
Like setting off alarms in a beehive, Asian honeybees use complex signals to alert nest mates about giant hornet attacks, according to a new study co-led by University of Guelph researchers.
The study shows that honeybees recognize and respond to different types of hornets using several signals, a kind of alert system that is better known among social mammals and birds, said Dr. Gard Otis, professor emeritus in the School of Environmental Sciences within U of G’s Ontario Agricultural College.
This is the first time that invertebrates have been shown to use differing signals in response to different species of predators.
The study in Royal Society Open Science by a team of North American and Vietnamese researchers shows that Asian hive bees (Apis cerana) give specific “calls” in response to giant hornets, their worst predator.
Read more at: University of Guelph
