Re:Zombie bees leave the hive at night
by mythobit on Tuesday September 25, 2012 @09:58AM
(#4570328)
It appears to be a parasite taking control of the host.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocephalus_borealis
http://news.discovery.com/animals/parasite-bees-zombies-0105...
Thank you, sir! I feel 1000% less stupid now.
Re:Zombie bees leave the hive at night
by jentulman on Tuesday September 25, 2012 @10:47AM
(#4570604)
At least they avoided a 'zombees' pun. I'm not sure I could have resisted.
Most surely is "2)normal bees...". Also it's written at the beginning of the article that this parasite modifies the usual habits of a bee. And also a parasite loves living bodies, because is a parasite; so the "zombie bees" is just a metaphor.
"honey bees that have been parasitized by the Zombie Fly Apocephalus borealis." [1]
Re:Zombie bees leave the hive at night
by sangfroid on Tuesday September 25, 2012 @11:41AM
(#4570929)
It's actually not an uncommon behavior for a sick bee to leave the hive. They do this so that they will die outside and protect the rest of the colony.
http://peacebeefarm.blogspot.com/2011/01/protection-by-behav...
Are the "zombie" bees in question: 1) Undead creatures or 2) Normal bees that been infected by a parasite and acting against their nature?
In other words, is there a parasite that causes dead bees to come to life? Or is the "zombie" metaphor used to indicate that they don't really have a will and mind of their own?
I feel really stupid asking this, but all the news I've read have been incredibly badly written. You can only imagine how bad the Finnish translations of this news have been, given the quality of the original English articles.