Workers are "just like drones around a honey pot"

16 December 2001, 17:37 GMT

Artist's Impression

A research programme in Melbourne, Australia came to this shock conclusion, providing the climax for a lengthy 12-year study.

The study involved placing a pot of honey in a room crowded with workers.

The results varied, but the most common behaviour observed was that "as soon as the lid was pulled off the honey pot, the workers became very excited, and started buzzing round the room, swooping in at the honey, taking great licks of the stuff and then hovering around the edges of the room for a few minutes, before taking another approach."

On a few occasions, spontaneous fighting broke out, sometimes before the honey pot had even been opened. "We are most intrigued by this behaviour," Senior Researcher Bruce Raganow mused in an exclusive telephone interview to The Rumour Mill last night. "It's not at all what we had expected."

"We would maybe have expected this behaviour if we had used jam jars," he added. "But honey? I mean, bees produce the stuff, so you wouldn't expect worker drones to get so damned excited about it, would you now?"

Next week: Workers are "just like ants around an ant-hill"

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