10 Lessons We Can Learn From Honeybees

In attempting to draw lessons from the natural world, it is all too easy to fall into the trap of anthropomorphic projection !his has fre"uently been the case with obser#ers of honeybees, who, simply by applying names $ such as %"ueen%, %drone% and %wor&er% $ ha#e coloured our perception of the species such that it is difficult to approach a honeybee colony with a truly open mind We ha#e been led to e'pect to find a monarch in command of her myriad subjects, comprising wor&aholic females and la(y, good)for) nothing males !he truth is "uite different* the bee we call %"ueen% is really an egg)laying ser#ant to her offspring, who ha#e perfected the arts of consensus decision)ma&ing and communal, co) operati#e li#ing beyond anything we ha#e achie#ed !hey ha#e subsumed indi#idual egos to the superorganism and e#ol#ed a highly successful way to thri#e in an e#er)changing world, only recently coming under threat from the synthesi(ed products of man%s Howe#er, by obser#ing the actual beha#iour of honeybees, we may be able to identify some lessons we could usefully apply to our own li#es 1 Honeybees li#e within their means !here are no ban&s, loans or credit cards in the bees% world+ only the resources they themsel#es gather and store Li&e us, bees need to eat e#ery day, and they do e#erything in their power to ensure a constant food supply by storing it $ not so much for themsel#es, but for bees yet to be born Honeybees achie#e e'traordinary things by wor&ing together Fifty thousand wor&ers can shift a lot of stuff Co)operation is the &ey to their success* tens of thousands of indi#iduals beha#ing as a single organism Honeybees demonstrate that di#ision of labour can be highly efficient .nd e#eryone &nowing how to do the full range of essential jobs ma&es for fle'ibility and adaptability /ees mo#e through a series of jobs in the hi#e before finally emerging as food)gatherers In an emergency, they can re#ert to their former occupations to ma&e up for losses Honeybees ma&e honey while the sun shines /ees are opportunists, ta&ing ad#antage of a#ailable food as soon as conditions are right 1#en when their stores seem full, they will find odd corners to pac& with food Honeybees beha#e as though indi#iduals matter, while the common good is always their first priority 1go is not a feature of honeybees* their first duty is to their family and bees will sacrifice themsel#es without hesitation if they percei#e a threat to the colony Honeybees understand that hard times happen, and they are always prepared for temporary shortages as well as catastrophes Honeybees share* they &now there is plenty for e#eryone, including other bees and other pollinating insects Honeybees do not compete head)on with other species* there is o#erlap in their food sources, but they do not need to dri#e others from their territory Honeybees adapt to their surroundings !hey &now that this is the only effecti#e sur#i#al strategy !his e'tends e#en to their use of propolis, which #aries according to local conditions, and can protect them against locali(ed pathogens Honeybees understand that honest communication is at the heart of community /ees are great communicators, using #ibrations and pheromones to pass comple' messages around their colony .s far as we &now, they are incapable of telling anything but the truth as they understand it

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10 Honeybees% sur#i#al depends on selecting high "uality, un)tainted food from a #ariety of sources /ecause we ha#e assumed control of much of the a#ailable land for our own purposes, we are responsible for ensuring that they continue to ha#e access to flowers untainted by to'ic chemicals to which they ha#e no defence For almost all of the last 50 million years or so, bees ha#e had flowering plants to themsel#es 7nly in the last 100 years has their natural diet been contaminated with substances they can ne#er before ha#e encountered* man)made chemicals designed to poison them and their &ind, some of them cunningly incorporated into the #ery bodies of the plants they feed on 8ore and more of these to'ins are being spread on crops and on the soil, and the bees ha#e no chance of sur#i#ing their onslaught If we care about the sur#i#al of the honeybee, we must reform our farming and food production methods !he alternati#e is a world dominated by a handful of powerful corporations, intent on bringing the food chain completely under their control Phil Chandler