The stored honey and the protein-rich brood can make a hearty meal for an animal that is equipped to steal from the hive's environment. Mice are regular marauders in honey bee colonies and will nest in a hive in winter. Larger animals and birds that attack beehives must have strong claws, tough skin, and dense hairs or feathers, especially around their mouths. In North America, skunks, raccoons, opossums, and black bears are known to do damage to beehives. Opossums and skunks will catch the sluggish wintering bees, suck them dry of honey and soft body parts, and drop their exoskeletons near the hive. In tropical rain forests in Southeast Asia, the sun bear Helarctos malayanus, also called a honey bear, is a known predator of beehives.
Another carnivorous mammal, the honey badger Mellivora capensis, also feeds on bee colonies in western Asia and in Africa. Honeyguides are birds that live in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia and eat beeswax and bee brood. These birds have a fascinating technique to help them overcome the fact that they cannot typically get access to bee nests, nor can they defend themselves effectively from a honey bee attack. Although they are drab in color, it is said that honeyguides attract the attention of a larger vertebrate predator of bees (such as a sun bear, a honey badger, or even a human) using a distinctive call. The bird will then hop around, call again, and then fly a short distance away and resume calling.
In this way, the honeyguide earned its name - it guides the larger mammal to a bee colony and dines on the leftovers after the mammal has endured the danger of opening the nest. One bird in this group is named Indicator indicator because of this behavior. However fascinating the stories are about these birds, their true interactions with beehive predators have not been well studied scientifically. We think these birds deserve more attention for the possibilities of interspecies communication, whether or not the bee-birdmammal fables are true!
There is a family of migratory birds, Meropidae, that are rightfully named bee-eaters, although they also eat other flying insects. They live in southern Europe and eastward into southern Asia during the summer, but when the cold weather comes and bees stop foraging, the birds migrate to spend the winter in West Africa. There are many colorful species in this family, and they live together in large flocks, some foraging together in groups numbering in the hundreds. They chase bees and other insects and snatch them out of the air. Then they retreat to a perch with the insect in their beak, and they remove the sting from a bee or wasp before eating it by repeatedly hitting the insect on a hard surface, expelling most of its venom. There is a wonderful exhibit of bee-eaters in the San Diego Zoo.
To a limited extent, yes, bees can heal - but scientists do not have a detailed understanding of how they fight off infections. Bees do not have a well-developed immune system like the human immune system that develops antibodies against some pathogens after exposure to them. However, bees can survive the accidental removal of an antenna or part of a leg; and, although it is rare, it is possible to see bees with missing parts in an observation hive.
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