By Alka Singh
USA, Nov 11: An international team of researchers from North America and Vietnam observed that Asian honey bees (Apis cerana) alert their fellow bees by making an alarm sound. This acts like a defence system to protect themselves against the attacks by giant hornets (Vespa soror – large wasp) who can destroy their whole colonies. This is the first time that invertebrates have been detected to show an alert system against their predators. The researchers studied this behaviour by collecting audio and video recordings of hornet attacks on bee hives. Bees communicate through vibrations and rarely make sounds like hisses. However, sometimes they produced unrecognized sounds that had sudden shift in frequency when they were attacked by giant hornets. They call this newly discovered sound as antipredator pipes, similar to panic calls by mammals and birds. During that time they raise their abdomen, buzz their wings, and run here and there. So this unique warning system prepares them to face their enemies.
