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Honey bees adopt social distancing behavior to reduce transmission of infection within the hive. Social distancing provided an opportunity to limit the spread of infection between humans during the Corona pandemic. Do we see similar biological behavior in the animal world?
Over the past 18 months, humans have become very familiar with the term “social distancing” and how important it is to prevent epidemics. But it seems we’re not the only creatures who understand the importance of social distancing, especially when our health is at risk, as research suggests that honeybees do the same.Â
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Honey bees adopt social distancing
In the latest study, published in Science Advances on October 29, scientists – at the University of Sassari and the University of Turin in Italy and at University College London) in the UK – show that honeybees increase social distancing the longer their colony is. Under the threat of parasites.
According to the press report published by the EurekAlert website, honeybees react if harmful parasites infect their colony, by adjusting their position and interacting with each other to increase the social distance between young and old.
The discovery provides “the first evidence that honeybees modify their social interactions and how they move in their hive in response to infection with a common parasite,” says study co-author Alessandro Cini at the University of London’s Center for Biodiversity and Environmental Research.
“Honeybees are a social animal with shared responsibilities and reciprocal social interactions. However, increasing these social activities increases the risk of infection. However, honeybees seem to have developed a mechanism for balancing risks and rewards by adopting social distancing.”
Nations like you
Apparently, social distancing behavior is not unusual in the animal world, as we can observe this behavior in many organisms, ranging from baboons that distance themselves from their peers with gastrointestinal infections, to ants infected with pathogenic fungi that distance themselves from ants. communities so as not to infect them.
Repositioning of cell members
Conclusion on how Honey bees adopt social distancing
In this article, we explained how honey bees adopt social distancing. It is a miraculous behavior that can help humans adopt a similar protocol to avoid the problem of contamination in the future.
