Scientists have managed to decode the tooting and quacking sounds that newborn queens make in the hive. Apparently, the queens quack when they are ready to emerge from their eggs. Only one of them, however, can hatch from their eggs, for a death battle ensues if two queens hatch at the same time. And so, the queen bee who just managed to hatch begins tooting to signal the worker bees to keep the other eggs captive.
Dr Martin Bencsik, from Nottingham Trent University, who led this study, described the tooting and quacking of these "wonderful animals" as "extraordinary".
The worker bees will only let another queen hatch when the tooting ceases.
"Quacking queens are purposefully kept captive by the worker bees - they will not release the quacking queens because they can hear the tooting.
"When the tooting stops, that means the queen would have swarmed [split the colony and set out to find a new nest] and this triggers the colony to release a new queen."
Dr Bencsik said bee society was "absolutely splendid" to observe.
Via Classic FM
(Image Credit: Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service/ Wikimedia Commons)