Propolis

bees, honey and other sticky subjects

Thursday, August 12, 2004

Who smells whom?

“The fact that bees learn to recognize beekeepers by their smell is one of the many fascinating bits of trivia Fielding has accumulated from nature's busiest and highly organized creatures, the honey bee.”
Christine Hensleigh reporting a meeting with Arvon Fielding, a Montana beekeeper.
That's an idea that's often posed to me. But I don't think bees have a clue who I am or what I smell like. If they did it would be a remarkable learning feat in a life of six weeks, during which they might meet me four times at most.

I suspect that the learning is the other way around: beekeepers quickly learn what deodorants bees don't like, the rushed movements that irritate them, the hive vibrations that make them livid, and the smell of venom when they are very angry!

1 Comments:

Blogger in niveus said...

Turlough,

What a gift you have, "Feminist organizations must love bees?" I'm going to send a note to this man and let him know that he is right about one feminist anyway. I know a few men that would get a chuckle reading this piece.

Cat

12:07 am  

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