A beekeeper was recorded cradling the queen of a bee colony in his fist while hundreds of the insects swarmed over his entire arm. Social media footage shows the worker in the Dominican Republic striding down the street, seemingly unconcerned, with his left arm covered with bees. The man stated that the insects would not sting him because they were following the queen bee within his hand. According to UNILAD, the beekeeper informs the camera in the video that he was relocating the colony and placing them in a box.
When the videographer asks the beekeeper why he isn’t stung by the bees, he responds, ‘They recognize their owner.’ ‘And do you have the queen in your possession?’ Because that’s where their queen is,’ said the man capturing the clip. ‘Yes. ‘I got it in my fist,’ reveals the beekeeper. The video has also prompted a debate on Reddit, with some wondering how the Dominican beekeeper managed to relocate the colony in this manner.
According to one user, swarming happens when a new queen bee emerges and a portion of the previous colony splits off to create a new hive. ‘At this time, the bee swarm appears to be really frightening, yet it is the most docile ever because it is simply hunting for a new home while defending the queen,’ the user explained. ‘Because the queen isn’t endangered and isn’t being injured in this scenario, the rest of the swarm merely follows along.’ Others thought that the insects did not attack the beekeeper because they could smell the queen’s pheromones, indicating that she was safe.
Pheromones are chemical molecules sent into the hive or surroundings by individual honeybees to express behavior changes or physiology of others of the same species. Bees have one of nature’s most sophisticated pheromone-driven communication systems, with all three castes able to alert other bees via pheromones. The Queen Mandibular Pheromone (QMP) is regarded as the colony’s most essential group of pheromones. It can have an impact on social behavior, hive management, swarming, and m.at.ing behavior.
