This beekeeper was filmed transporting a whole colony of bees, with the queen in his fist and thousands of other bees swarming on his arm.
The worker from the Dominican Republic is seen seemingly unbothered and casually walking down the street, like he didn’t have thousands of insects on his body.
However, he later explained that the chances of getting stung were very low because the bees were following the queen bee which was in his fist.
When the man who was taking the video asked from him why he’s not afraid of getting stung, he replied ‘they know their owner’.
How could this Beekeeper Go Unharmed with so many Bees?
The video also caused a debate on the social media Reddit where people were wondering how this beekeeper managed to do this transport without any harm.
One of the users wrote that swarming happens when a new queen bee appears and part of the previous colony takes off to begin a new hive.
So, although it looks scary seeing so much bees on his naked body, they’re not dangerous, but just looking for a new home and protecting their queen. Since the queen isn’t being threatened and harmed, they just follow along.
However, not everyone agreed with this theory. Other users debated that these insects weren’t attacking the man because they were able to smell the pheromones of the bee signaling them she’s not being harmed.
These chemical substances are secreted by honeybees into the surrounding environment or hive to express changes in behavior or physiology.
Interestingly, bees have one of the most sophisticated pheromone-driven communications in nature; namely, three castes have the capacity to signal other bees through these chemicals.
The queen’s mandibular pheromone is actually thought to be the most crucial set in the colony.
It influences the hive maintenance, mating, swarming, and social behavior.
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