I don’t know about you but I’ve always wondered –What happens if you give a honey bee cocaine? Well, fortunately, researchers at the University of Illinois have recently come up with the answer.
The study was fairly straightforward. Scientists applied tiny drops of cocaine solution to the bee’s backs and then monitored their dance communication system, which is used to tell other bees about the quantity, quality and location of a food source.
The researchers found that the bees on cocaine ate less and danced much more enthusiastically than normal. (Just like humans?). But, interestingly, the dancing of the drugged bees wasn’t simply an expression of unstructured hyperactivity. The research team demonstrated that only the foraging honey bees dance on cocaine, that these bees don’t move more than other bees except during the dance and that the dances of coked up bees still accurately depict the location, quantity and quality of the food.
“It’s not like they’re gyrating wildly on the dance floor out of control,” said one researcher. “This is a patterned response. It gives distance information, location information. That information is intact.”
So, really, what’s the point? Well, the conclusion was that honey bees on cocaine dance more because of the altruistic high it gives them. In other words, the bees are getting a buzz off of being nice to each other.
I don’t know if this research will have any significant lasting impact in the World of Science but I do know that honey bees work up a mighty thirst with all that dancing. Bees, in fact, seek and collect quite a bit of water to carry back to the hive every day, especially in the hot summer months.
Which brings me to the point of today’s post – the unveiling of the Michel-Schlumberger Bee Fountain! As usual, we’re very proud.
The fountain sits in the center of our circular and extremely floriferous Bee Garden, practically at the doorstep of our 3 hives (probably around 60,000 bees). It’s made from recycled stuff from the vineyard and it’s powered by a small solar panel. It’s not big, but doesn’t need to be – just a steady trickle of water over a small pile of flat rocks is the perfect thirst quencher for bees and birds (and raccoons and fox and dogs and cats). 
A few aquatic plants and mosquito fish were the final touches to aid in purification of the water.
And I swear this is true. When at last I had set the final rock in place and plugged in the solar panel to start the fountain flowing I stood and stepped back to bask in the gurgling glory. Right then a beautiful western bluebird swooped down from the oak tree and landed on the fountain, just 3 feet from where I stood. The bird took several long, happy drinks of water. Then a large squawking scrub jay dove down and chased the bluebird off to do the exact same thing.
That, I figure, is an auspicious beginning.
Tony
