They do seem to indicate whenever they'd like a human to back off. Sort of tip slightly to one side and lift one leg high in the air, as if to say: 'I'm watching you! Any further and I'll sting.' Is that a reliable guide to their intentions?
They do seem to indicate whenever they'd like a human to back off. Sort of tip slightly to one side and lift one leg high in the air, as if to say: 'I'm watching you! Any further and I'll sting.' Is that a reliable guide to their intentions?
I've seen them doing that when they're covered in mites and also found one dead inside a hive with one leg raised as if to fend off the guard bees. However, when they're using a bucket as a swimming pool they don't seem able to spare a leg (and if they did, would they be waving or drowning?). Does anyone know if I was stung, or bitten?
Trog, I'd say you were stung. See also the Wikipedia site (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee):
Home Planet on Tue 30th had a contribution about the mites commonly found on bumblebees:Queen and worker bumblebees can sting, but unlike a honey bee's, a bumblebee's stinger lacks barbs, so they can sting more than once.[19] Bumblebee species are normally non-aggressive, but will sting in defense of their nest, or if harmed. Female cuckoo bumblebees will aggressively attack host colony members, and sting the host queen, but will ignore other animals (including humans) unless disturbed.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00rmrpz, scroll to 17 minutes. I'm not entirely happy about their views on honeybees, though. Have a listen yourself ...
Doris
The usual misconception that even so called "expert" scientists fall into that :- "honeybees are domesticated and don't occur naturally in wild feral colonies".Try telling that to a swarm that escapes,they immediately revert to being a truley wild colony.About time someone took the young lady scientist to task and corrected her facts .
Even the ones that deign to live in the hives we provide are wild at heart!
Bumblebee sting
Hi Trog.Originally Posted by Trog
You were right to think you had been stung. The bumblebee can sting but as said, does not have a barb on the sting. The first sting I ever received was from a bumblebee, when as a boy I was trying to see how many I could catch in a jar. One escaped and I can still tell you to this day exactly where it stung me. You are quite right to say I deserved it for what I now know as cruelty. Fortunately I have learned, although when I receive the occasional sting from my honeybees , I wonder!!
I stopped to talk to a bumblebee today as I came up Post Office Brae with the messages. She was resting on the path in the sunshine and put up a defensive leg as my shadow crossed her. I crouched down to chat to her, making sure I didn't get in the way of the warming sun, and decided she was probably safe enough where she was as there would be no traffic on that particular route. More to the point, the school is now on holiday so there was little danger of her being crushed by thundering trainers en route to the chip van!
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