Bees ‘ejaculate’ themselves to death when it gets too hot
By
Ben Cost
February 24, 2022 4:47pm
Updated
During an intense Canadian heatwave, male honeybees literally ejaculated themselves to death.Dr. Alison McAfee
MORE ON:BEES
Thought sweating on a hot day was uncomfortable? During an intense Canadian heat wave, male honeybees literally ejaculated themselves to death in an apocalyptic love explosion, according to a bombshell study report by scientists at the University of British Columbia in Canada.
“When drones die from shock, they spontaneously ejaculate,” said Dr. Alison McAfee, the study’s author and a postdoctoral fellow at UBC’s Michael Smith Laboratories who has studied bee health extensively, as reported by Phys.org.
The carnal combustions occurred during British Columbia’s sweltering 2021 heat wave and were documented by Emily Huxter, a rural beekeeper in the province of Okanagan Valley, who started noticing dozens of dead drones on the ground. She emailed pictures of the dystopian die-off to McAfee, who got in touch with other beekeepers. They said they’d witnessed the same disturbing phenomenon, which they claimed was endangering the survival of their colonies.
Dead drone bees were photographed and shared with researchers.Emily Huxter
The trend was especially troubling given the beehive’s elaborate temperature control system. Thermoregulation helps the nest maintain a stable temperature of about 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit); however, the unprecedented heat waves had catapulted the mercury into a danger zone.
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“We know that after six hours at 42 degrees [Celsius] [107.6 degrees Fahrenheit], half of drones will die of heat stress,” McAfee explained. “The more sensitive ones start to perish at two or three hours.”
She noted that the temperature is one “they shouldn’t normally experience, but we were seeing drones getting stressed to the point of death.”
And these deaths aren’t pretty. When male workers die, they start convulsing, which causes their endophallus — a sexual organ the size of their own abdomen — to burst out of their posterior. In other words, bees literally sex-plode when things get too hot.
As a result, many beekeepers saw half their “small starter colonies die off during the first heat wave,” said McAfee. “That’s a massive die-off and tells me we need to find better ways of protecting bees.”
Queen cells feature developing queens.Dr. Alison McAfee
In order to protect the social insects from another heat wave, the bee-searcher and her team experimented with different methods of insulation on 18 different beehives. They then measured the temp via thermometers installed within the nests.
First, they outfitted the tops of the hives with two-inch-thick pieces of Styrofoam, which absorbed the radiant heat from the sun, making thermoregulating easier.
The second cooling method involved equipping the colony with a feeder full of sugar syrup. “Bees will naturally go find water to bring back to the hive and fan it with their wings to cool down, which achieves evaporative cooling, much like we do when we sweat,” said McAfee. “Giving them syrup nearby should let them do the same thing, and the sugar in it motivates them to take it down faster.”
A drone bee.Emily Huxter
The researchers found that the Styrofoam-enhanced hives were cooler by about 3.75 degrees Celsius (6.75 degrees Fahrenheit) than controls, while those with syrup “air conditioners” were cooler by 1.1 degrees Celsius (1.98 degrees Fahrenheit).
McAfee said she’ll conduct further experiments to help steel these essential pollinators against sweltering summer temps.
Fortunately, although the massive drone die-off was gruesome, it did have a silver lining: McAfee realized that male bees may be even better indicators of temperature change than queens — the traditional weather bee-rometer in the science community.
The finding is especially vital as climate change continues to push these essential insects to the brink.
Alison McAfee near a beehive.Dominique Weiss
McAfee used research bees for her experiments.Leslie Kennah/Michael Smith Labo
By
Ben Cost
February 24, 2022 4:47pm
Updated
MORE ON:BEES
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Thought sweating on a hot day was uncomfortable? During an intense Canadian heat wave, male honeybees literally ejaculated themselves to death in an apocalyptic love explosion, according to a bombshell study report by scientists at the University of British Columbia in Canada.
“When drones die from shock, they spontaneously ejaculate,” said Dr. Alison McAfee, the study’s author and a postdoctoral fellow at UBC’s Michael Smith Laboratories who has studied bee health extensively, as reported by Phys.org.
The carnal combustions occurred during British Columbia’s sweltering 2021 heat wave and were documented by Emily Huxter, a rural beekeeper in the province of Okanagan Valley, who started noticing dozens of dead drones on the ground. She emailed pictures of the dystopian die-off to McAfee, who got in touch with other beekeepers. They said they’d witnessed the same disturbing phenomenon, which they claimed was endangering the survival of their colonies.
Dead drone bees were photographed and shared with researchers.Emily HuxterThe trend was especially troubling given the beehive’s elaborate temperature control system. Thermoregulation helps the nest maintain a stable temperature of about 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit); however, the unprecedented heat waves had catapulted the mercury into a danger zone.
SEE ALSO
Beekeepers turn to anti-theft technology as hive thefts rise
“We know that after six hours at 42 degrees [Celsius] [107.6 degrees Fahrenheit], half of drones will die of heat stress,” McAfee explained. “The more sensitive ones start to perish at two or three hours.”
She noted that the temperature is one “they shouldn’t normally experience, but we were seeing drones getting stressed to the point of death.”
And these deaths aren’t pretty. When male workers die, they start convulsing, which causes their endophallus — a sexual organ the size of their own abdomen — to burst out of their posterior. In other words, bees literally sex-plode when things get too hot.
As a result, many beekeepers saw half their “small starter colonies die off during the first heat wave,” said McAfee. “That’s a massive die-off and tells me we need to find better ways of protecting bees.”
Queen cells feature developing queens.Dr. Alison McAfeeIn order to protect the social insects from another heat wave, the bee-searcher and her team experimented with different methods of insulation on 18 different beehives. They then measured the temp via thermometers installed within the nests.
First, they outfitted the tops of the hives with two-inch-thick pieces of Styrofoam, which absorbed the radiant heat from the sun, making thermoregulating easier.
The second cooling method involved equipping the colony with a feeder full of sugar syrup. “Bees will naturally go find water to bring back to the hive and fan it with their wings to cool down, which achieves evaporative cooling, much like we do when we sweat,” said McAfee. “Giving them syrup nearby should let them do the same thing, and the sugar in it motivates them to take it down faster.”
A drone bee.Emily HuxterThe researchers found that the Styrofoam-enhanced hives were cooler by about 3.75 degrees Celsius (6.75 degrees Fahrenheit) than controls, while those with syrup “air conditioners” were cooler by 1.1 degrees Celsius (1.98 degrees Fahrenheit).
McAfee said she’ll conduct further experiments to help steel these essential pollinators against sweltering summer temps.
Fortunately, although the massive drone die-off was gruesome, it did have a silver lining: McAfee realized that male bees may be even better indicators of temperature change than queens — the traditional weather bee-rometer in the science community.
The finding is especially vital as climate change continues to push these essential insects to the brink.
Alison McAfee near a beehive.Dominique Weiss
McAfee used research bees for her experiments.Leslie Kennah/Michael Smith Labo
