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Enlarge textAndy Martin pleads with Australians to support the humble honeybee's fight against disease. And you never know, we may just save the planet...
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They work hard and they have a taste for the amber nectar. They dance when in the mood, they get 'demoralized', occasionally they 'collapse', they even (apologies to republicans) have a queen. I speak, of course, of bees.
The odd sting apart, and notwithstanding paranoid movies about giant killer bees, humans and bees have existed in proximity and some kind of harmony for thousands of years.
According to legend, Einstein said, 'If bees die out, we've got about four years left. No bees, no honey; no honey, no humans.' And if he didn't say it, he really should have done.
Idly flicking through my 'Encyclopedia of Unusual Sexual Practices', I gather that some guys have taken to luring a swarm of unwary bees over to their place and seducing them into stinging the penis, thus causing it to become abnormally enlarged (look it up under 'entomophilia'). I am guessing this was pre-Viagra, but it might still appeal to hardcore masochists.
But I am getting off the point here. My point being that there is a natural affinity between humans and bees (and, indeed, birds and bees).
Perhaps there is some deep etymological or entomological connection between the pathetic phallus and the 'pathetic fallacy', the term invented by literary analysts to describe Romantic poets who go about attributing human characteristics to the non-human.
But we really ought to get rid of the word 'fallacy' (and probably 'pathetic' too). With all due respect for diversity, it still seems entirely reasonable to me to make comparisons between us and other species.
One of the stupidest things I ever came across was a leaflet being distributed by a religious group which had a picture of a white guy in a suit and his white wife, standing by a nice car. The car was parked on the edge of a cliff, which seems unwise, but there it was. And on the far side of a seemingly unbridgeable abyss was a whole bunch of 'dumb' animals (goats, sheep, horse) looking back across the divide and apparently wishing (if they wished anything at all) that they could be human too.
If we have learned anything, it is that we (bees and beings) are interconnected and interdependent. So it is natural to say, like Muhammad Ali, 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.' Or, going in the abusive direction, to draw on the strangely metaphorical power of goat, sheep, cow, bitch, pig, ostrich. (I recall that one England football manager, having just lost to the Swedes, was once referred to as a 'turnip', but that was just being mean to root vegetables.)
When you see the 'varroa destructor' parasite marching all over the bee and sucking his or her blood, how can you not identify with the bee? (Anyone out there rooting for the parasite must be some kind of vampire.)
I naturally feel sorry for all those robust Australian bees (several billion apparently) who are being shipped out to California on a strictly one-way ticket, since they are doomed to become infected while there (I am holding back from using the phrase 'bee holocaust').
Papua New Guinea has recently succumbed. Australia is the last refuge on Earth of the healthy honeybee. Naturally it falls to Australians - like bee lifeguards - to get this bloodsucker off the bee's back and thus save the planet.
Without wanting to go as far as the bee-fetishists described above, I do think we need a fundamental feeling for bees, in other words a degree of trans-species empathy, otherwise the world as we know it really is doomed.
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Comments (26)
13 Jan 2012 10:25 AEST
From: Melbourne
Natural Beekeeping
Bee-friendly approaches, highly appropriate to back-garden beekeeping are also aimed at increasing the bees' own resiliance to these threats. We've formed a group to support this growing moveement: http://www.naturalbeekeeping.org.au/
15 Mar 2010 18:15 AEST
From: Gold Coast
BEES destroyed by UN NWO chemtrails
I have kept bees all my life and usually BEES will rise up against any intruder such as beetles, wasps, grubs etc but to do this the worker bees need to multiply massively to increase the 'guards' for the hive= This 'pest' beetle does target the drone cells emerging after 23 days and the worker bees when loaded with pollen cant find their way back to the hive because of disruption to the Earth's electro magnetic field by H.A.A.R.P this electro magnetic field is necessary to navigate home so the bees fall exhausted trying to get home. see film report http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN_ygCOp9CA cheers Ray see www.cleanairandwater.net
07 Mar 2010 10:24 AEST
From: Sydney
General issues
Oddly enough, part of the problem is that people don't put a realistic value on bees or honey. ( a kilo of cutlets in the supermarket, is approximately 10 to 14 times the value of a kilo of honey, as paid to the producer). Maybe they are accustomed to expecting honey to be bland as it has been in Supermarkets since 1950's? Banks seem reluctant to finance anything to do with bees or honey, and that's a fact. Our Honey industry is in a terrible plight because our market is so small, and so monopolised that prices to producers are forced down, and the industry doesn't thrive with new investment. If we could sell honey at a better price we could fund the research we need. About 8 years ago, I tried to arrange Gov't funding for research into varroa, but it wasn't considered necessary, and in fact was discouraged by two industry experts. I reckon they were wrong and now we can see the consequences. Why wait until it is too late? That's the Australian way! The sensible thing is to look for the weakness in the varroa parasite. People might be interested to consider why it prefers to lay its eggs in drone cells, which take 23 days to hatch, compared with workers ( 21 days) and Queens (18 days). When you consider the relative concentration of amino acids in the high protein diet in each cell, it seems clear that there must be a clue in that. There is something that the parasite needs, and that could be a lead in establishing control over it. For further discussion please feel welcome to contact me.
13 Jan 2010 15:09 AEST
From: mid-north coast of NSW
bee afflictions
My wife and I had kept bees for many decades - until a strange pest called black hive beetles caused all our four hives to 'collapse'... that is, we spent weeks trying to eradicate the beetles and their larvae, eventually consolidating weaker colonies with stronger ones, yet they all scampered eventually. For the past year or so, my wife persisted in putting out a honey trap (a hive set up for attracting a swarm and regularly supplied with a little honey). On our wedding anniversary in September, Nature gave her a present: a swarm had taken up residence! We left them alone until yesterday, when we needed to add a storey to their hive. Today, my wife checked on the bees - and yes, there was at least ONE little black hive beetle in a corner of the new mansion! We'll see how they go dealing with it on their own...
04 Dec 2009 16:55 AEST
From: Perth, Western Australia
What to do next?
We are well briefed on the problem but what can the public do to help? Any comments?
04 Dec 2009 15:06 AEST
From: Canberra
Follow up to NatGeo "Silence of the Bees"
I found some follow up info at the PBS website from May 2009. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/silence-of-the-bees/ccd-update-from-dennis-van-engelsdorp-may-2009/4991/ Anyway, the US expert in the interview still couldn't pinpoint a specific cause to Colony Collapse Disorder (the bees leave the hive and don't return whereas with a Varroa infestation there are lots of diseased bees in the hive) despite Spanish investigators claiming a fungus as a cause. Varroa isn't mentioned in the update.
04 Dec 2009 14:11 AEST
From: Canberra
Colony Collapse Syndrome not caused by Varroa
I thought HoneyBee Blues was an excellent documentary except National Geographic just aired another documentary called "the Silence of the Bees" which discounted Varroa as the major cause of Colony Collapse syndrome which affects HoneyBees in most of the world outside of Australia (Varroa has been a threat since the 1980s). Admittedly the NatGeo documentary was made in 2007 but they suggested that it was a combination of causes which has led to an immune deficiency disease in bee, eg. pesticides ... and curiously a virus originating in Israel which is also found in Australian Bees. Unfortunately, there is no "follow up" on any of these documentaries.
02 Dec 2009 16:53 AEST
From: cairns FNQ.
honeybees gone!
Cairns city has NO honeybees (european, that is) remaining. I am a horticulturist, permaculturist and greenie,so I think I could find one if there are any left. Bio-Security Australia workers who inspect our gardens and yards regularly also told me they are not around any more.I have a healthy hive of native bees, also Leafcutter and Solitary bees, but no Feral Flying Honeypigs, so-called once upon a time. Please tell me I'm mistaken.
02 Dec 2009 11:15 AEST
From: Melbourne
Last refuge
Australia is becoming a refuge for bees as it is for other organisms that have hit tough times elsewhere. Not only are our bees healthier but we also have some pure strains, like the Ligurian bees of Kangaroo Island (a bee refuge), that can no longer be found in their place of origin in pure form. The irony is they don't really belong here and the double irony, we can't do without them because our way of life doesn't 'belong' here either. I'm a beekeeper and recommend it to anyone with a fascination for the lives of other creatures. It more than makes up for the odd and inevitable sting. Equally inevitable in my view is the day that Varroa finally makes it to our shores. Bees have been decimated by diseases in the past and have bounced back. In the long term I'm backing the bees.
02 Dec 2009 10:07 AEST
From: Central Victoria
DVD's
does anyone know if these docos are available for purchase? No matter how much one thinks one knows about bees, there is a constant fascination to observe more. maditative, contemplative and yes, hard work but the rewards...Glorious creatures that the world cannot afford to lose.
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About this Blog
Andy Martin's two most recent books are 'Beware Invisible Cows' and 'Stealing the Wave'. He is currently working on a project called 'What It Feels Like To Be Alive'.
Andy Martin Andy Martin was born in London, a mile down the road from West Ham United football club. He dreamed of playing at Upton Park but got sidetracked by (a) philosophy (b) Brigitte Bardot and (c) surfing. He studied at Cambridge, Paris, Hawaii, and Yallingup. He married a woman from Perth and they have two sons who fervently support Australia in the Ashes encounters. He is a former surfing correspondent to The Times (London). He teaches French at Cambridge but is currently attached to the Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars at the New York Public Library. His two most recent books are 'Beware Invisible Cows' and 'Stealing the Wave'. He is currently working on a project called 'What It Feels Like To Be Alive'.
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