It’s a Warning! Not Just a Story for Kids!

16 April 2015

[Humor]

            Winnie the Pooh was a bear with a problem.  In his more innocent time, Pooh was lucky to live in a sympathetic community of lifelong friends.  So, there was no talk of “interventions” or “rehab.”  Friends just helped Pooh cope an uncontrolled urge to eat honey. 

             Pooh got a friend a present – a pot full of honey.  But when Pooh went to give the friend the gift . . . well . . . by the time Pooh arrived at the friend’s home, the gift was just a pot.  If Pooh came over to your house for dinner, the honey jar intended to feed all your guests would turn-up empty right after Pooh helped himself.  When you went into your pantry for more, you’d find those containers empty too!

            The members of Pooh’s community seemed to be both willing and able to deal with their friend’s “problem.”  But not everyone wasn’t so sympathetic.  There were a few who had little sense of humor about having their honey stolen.  And, honey theft even provoked more anger if you threatened to eat the owners with the honey!  These were honeybees.  With them, Pooh met his match as memorialized in the 1967 Disney film, “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.”  

Poster Promoting Film

            That film chronicles one of the Pooh’s most ill-fated honey heists.  Obtaining a magic balloon from Christopher Robin, Pooh used this “aircraft” to float himself up to a beehive and help himself to several “paw-fuls” of honey.  Not having planned the heist, Pooh not only stuffed the honey into his month but, also, a number of bees – including the enraged queen.  As Pooh, rather rudely, spit out the bees and prepared to take some more honey, the ejected queen stung him and, in the ensuing confusion, Pooh’s hind end became stuck in the beehive.  Not a good situation for the hapless honey bear.

            The bees themselves “removed” Pooh from their hive.  The bear and Christopher Robin fled the pursuing swarm.  They only reached safety when they jumped into a large mud puddle – where they waited until the swarm of bees left.

            Apparently, not everyone understands that this is more than a children’s story.  It’s a warning.  If you want some honey, there’s a right way and wrong way to go about getting it.  And, if you decide to get some honey from a beehive, you’ve got to deal with the bees – which means you must “tread carefully.”  Wearing protective clothing . . . or . . . using a smoke gun (bees are a bit stunned by smoke) . . . or, if you’re a beekeeper, harvesting the honeycombs from a specially designed hive.

            Do NOT go over to the nearest hive and try to “help yourself.”

            Some readers may find this warning almost insulting.  They might say, “Who would ever do anything that foolish?”  “Everyone knows not to do anything like that!”

            You’d think so, but . . .

            On Sunday, 5 April 2015, in Port Richie Florida, three men decided they wanted some honey.  Noticing a large beehive in a nearby tree, they approached it, reached out, and broke off one of the hive’s large honeycombs.  The bees were unhappy with this turn of events and did what bee do.  They stung.

 The "Lifted" Honeycomb

            The police were called when neighbors heard the men screaming and saw them on the ground covered with bees.  Firefighters arrive and sprayed the men with water to remove the bees.  All three were transported to an area hospital with about 50 bee stings each.  The only other injury was to a woman who came out of her home in response to the honey robbers’ screams and approached too close to the hive.  She received about 12 stings and was briefly treated at an area hospital and released.

            There was quite a buzz in the neighborhood and the media.  Early reports suggested an “unprovoked” attack by the bees, but as the facts bear out, the bees were quite “provoked.”  Then, the bees were rumored to be Africanized Killer bees.  They weren’t.  These were just plain old honeybees.  Then, news reports included the prediction that the hive would destroyed.  It wasn’t.

The Hive

            Instead, the hive is being removed and relocated to another area – hopefully one with fewer fools who bother bees.   I suggest that the three would-be honey robbers should be forced to watch “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree” at least once, but possibly as many as three times.  Each viewing should be introduced and followed by a brief lecture about the film: “It’s a warning!  Not just a story for kids!”

She who laughs last, laughs best!

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Part II: Honeybee Security Forces – Protection from the Serengeti to the Big Apple

09 April 2015

Last week, in Part I of this post, we explored the surprising world of honeybee security guards in the wilds of Africa.  These guard-bees protect agricultural fields and crops against nothing less than ravenously hungry wild elephants.  The bees took the assignment in stride.  The elephants are now afraid of the ever-vigilant bees.

            But I hear you saying, “Sure, those African bees can deal with wild animals in the heart of Africa.  The African breed of the honeybee (A. m. scutellata) is the meanest, toughest and touchiest honeybee on earth.  But African honeybees aren’t even allowed in the United States. 

African Honeybee

            In North America and Europe, the common honeybee is of the “Italian” breed.  What could our good-natured, though quite productive, Apis mellifera ligustica, do when given the job of a security guard?  Sure, bee security is great in the real jungle, but the urban jungle is something else.  Would-be thieves play for keeps on the mean streets of New York.  How will these Italian honeybees stand up to – or even survive – the daily threats from crime and criminals in the city.

Italian Honeybee

            Well, I don’t know how Italian bees would do in the streets, but their turf (the turf worth protecting) is far above the street.  Above the street?  Yes, above the mean streets atop the mean rooftops of New York.

            It’s been only a few years since honeybees were even allowed to migrate into the Big Apple.  Famous as a melding pot of diverse cultures, honeybee culture wasn’t part of the deal.  There might as well have been signs: “Welcome to New York, but no bees allowed!” 

            All that changed in about 2010, when declines in honey populations made every major North America city rethink its ban on honeybees.  People living in close quarters in the heart of the city had always been worried about stinging bees.  But with increased awareness, the people realized that day to day life with honeybees among them was a pleasant proposition.  Still, everyone thought that the best the new residents could bring to the city was more (and fresher) honey. 

            But everyone was in for a surprise. 

            While all eyes watched the mean streets, metal began to disappear from building roofs – particularly lead from the roofs of historic buildings.  Although few of us may have noticed, the price for metals has been steadily rising.  With every rise, metal theft becomes more profitable and, therefore, more attractive.  In many places, it’s becoming hard to find affordable insurance for the metal (and particularly lead) roofs of historic buildings. 

            Then, it happened. 

            One building owner wanted to raise bees.  But his neighbors were less than enthusiastic about these new residents wandering (or flying through) the area streets.  “The streets were mean enough” thought his neighbors.  If the honeybees got riled-up, they might make the mean streets even meaner by stinging up a storm. 

            The chance of something like that happening was remote, but "why argue," thought the building owner.   He already had a large flat open roof.  Hopefully, the bees would be safe there.  There had been metal robberies in the past.  The roof was made of lead, and lead was, and is, a valuable commodity these days.  If robbers came, the owner hoped that they wouldn't hurt the bees.  He installed the beehives.

            There were no more robberies.

            Word spread and the practice of keeping a number of hives on rooftops increased.  And, as it increased, lead theft from roofs decreased.  It seems that these honeybees don’t take kindly to metal robbers when they come in the dark of night and start messing with the bees’ hives.  Our Italian bees may not be as mean as their African cousins, but they have exactly the same venom and stings of exactly the same strength.  What’s the big difference between Italian bees and African bees?  The speed of the chase.

            Lesson? 

            When you’re cornered by a swarm of really angry honeybees on a rooftop, you can’t run so fast or so far away.  Would-be thieves were in for an “African treatment” even though it was coming from Italian bees. 

            Now that New Yorkers have the honeybee security idea down, they’re asking another question.  Do their rooftops have to look like security centers?  Of course not!  If you’re going to have a roof full of honeybees, why not have a rooftop garden or, better yet, gardens!  The flat tops of more than a few New York historic buildings are turning green!  No, really, the color green!  Lush gardens are beautifying the historic roofs and providing sources of nectar (a regular food-court) for their honeybee security forces.

            One can’t help but shed a tear when thinking about the employment prospects for our old security standby, the canines.  Lumbering and panting, these creatures sometimes need flea treatments and are subject to irritating licensing requirements.  They just don’t cut the same clean-green figure as those gently buzzing and quietly working honeybees.  And, of course, the dogs need to be given food, while the honeybees make food.  And what food they make!  Who can dislike an insect that makes something as good-tasting as honey?

Sorry, Fido!  We know you need the work, but you just can't replace a honeybee!

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Part I: Honeybee Security Forces – Protection from the Serengeti to the Big Apple

02 April 2015

           What do you do when good elephants go bad?  You call-in the honeybees!  But are we coddling these elephant criminals?  Maybe.  But there’s a reason for this indulgence. 

            Elephant populations in Africa are declining.  One major factor in the decline is habitat loss.  If you’ve lived at all, you know what makes a downward spiral into a spiral.  When things go wrong, we are often challenged to do more and more . . . with less and less.  So are the elephants. 

            Without a habitat rich in food, they start going out to eat in places where food is abundant: farms.  Unfortunately, food produced by human farms is, also, a matter of survival - not just the farmers, but for their community as well.  When a farmer and elephants confront each other over a farm’s produce, the elephants often won’t back down.  Neither will the farmers.  The elephants know their size is a big factor in their success in any confrontation.  But the farmers have guns.  The elephants lose almost every battle.

            This was a tragic situation because both the farmers and elephants were only doing what they “had” to do.  Then, Lucy King, a researcher for “Save the Elephants,” thought of a solution.  What if you could build a fence?  But what kind of fence could withstand an elephant assault?  Well, the effectiveness of King’s fence didn’t depend on the strength of a wall.  She knew something about elephants.

            Elephants are afraid of bees.  Elephants are really afraid of bees.  This sounds like some kind of peculiar elephant behavior – a kind of animal version of psychological bias -- until you are introduced to the bees.  These are African bees.  In North America, we have African-ized bees.  That only means they have some African bee ancestors.  But even these hybrid bees are called “killer bees” for a reason.  The African bee is really, really mean.

            Why are African honeybees so mean?  Their touchiness probably has to do with the fierce “honey-robbing” African animals from which these bees have to protect their hives and honey stores.  African bees are, by the way, only a different “breed” of the same species of bee you see outside from time to time – if you live in Europe or North America.  But, like different dog breeds, different bee breeds can make for some big differences in behavior.

            African honey bees are slightly smaller than their European and North American counterparts, but the strength of their sting and venom is absolutely identical to the other members of its species.  So, what makes African bee into killer bees.  Only one thing.  Their behavior.  Like most honeybee breeds, these bees will leave you alone -- unless they suspect that you are after their honey.  Then, they will sting first and ask questions later.  They chase down a threat in large, densely packed swarms and sting and sting and sting . . . like no other bee of their species.  A swarm of these bees will chase you, at high speed, for a third of mile before letting off the chase.

            Elephants have learned, from generations in Africa, that there are some critters that are so mean (with stings that are so painful), it’s just not worth it to mess with them.

            And, Lucy King, knew that the elephants knew.  She found out that elephants stay away from acacia trees with African beehives.  And, not only do elephants never forget, apparently, they gossip about what they remember.  When an elephant hears that buzz, they take off in the opposite direction and tell their “herd-mates” to do the same.  Word spreads fast.

            King, with some help, created a “beehive fence.”  Hives hang at 10 meter intervals on a wire that extends entirely around a farmer’s field.  The hives are suspended, in the open, where they are visible.  At a height of about 6 feet, a trespassing elephant will bump into a hive or the wire and all the hives will swing – and out come the buzzing bees.  Then, the elephants forget about the meal and beat a path in the opposite direction. 

            In the end, this is a win/win result.  An often fatal confrontation is avoided.  The elephants don’t get the meal they wanted or needed, but the farmers aren’t forced to protect their own food supply by having to kill these large, and generally friendly, endangered creatures.  Confrontations and crop destruction is down by about 85%.

            The six foot-tall fence, also, allows farmers to harvest the bees’ honey.  These hives are fully functional, sheltered beekeepers’ hives.  But, I can hear someone asking an obvious question.  If African bees are so dangerous and so touchy about their honey, how can anyone “harvest” honey from one of their hives and . . . er, ah . . . live to tell about it?

            Actually, Africanized bees are excellent honey producers and have been widely domesticated by commercial beekeepers in Africa.  Why are they the bee of choice in Africa, but the “killer bee” in America?  Well, I think it has a lot to do with the people in Africa and North America.  Africans grow up with African bees  -- the only bee they’ve ever known.  They are much more careful of bees than the residents of Northern Europe or the United States.  Africans learn through example and experience how to avoid antagonizing their sensitive African bees. 

            On the other hand, in the southern United States where Africanized bees have become numerous over the last four decades, we tend to treat these bees the same way we’ve always treated our bees.  Except . . . our bees were of a much, much more docile nature.  

            Many North American beekeepers argue that Africanized bees are good honey producers and require nothing more than a little different handling than their North American and Northern European cousins.  Some are even concerned that, at a time when bee populations are declining, we are “disposing” of Africanized honeybee colonies – treating these as public hazards.

            I can agree that African bees are probably not so very dangerous for those who have grown up in a location in which these bees have always been common.  Raised in communities that have known no other bee than the African, even small children pick up proper safety behaviors, probably by example as much as by any formal instruction from parents. 

            But we, in North America, are not conditioned to the Africanized honeybee’s touchy behavior.  Quite the opposite.  Every year, deaths and severe injury result from provocations as simple as walking too close to a tree containing an Africanized hive.   The fear is understandable because the danger, at least to North Americans and Northern Europeans, is quite real.  Beekeepers are restricted in most locations and prohibited from maintaining Africanized bee colonies because of the danger to nearby residents.

            But our honeybee security forces are not restricted to rural Africa and can be found in at least one of America’s largest cities.  Next week, in “Part II,” security guard bees in the Big Apple.

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