Bees And Beer: A Buzzing Friendship?

Bees are known to be avid drinkers, and research has shown that they can even hold their liquor better than humans. Honeybees, in particular, have been observed to happily consume the equivalent of 10 litres of wine in one sitting. This unusual behaviour has sparked the interest of scientists, who are keen to understand the effects of alcohol on bees and whether they can be used as a model for studying alcohol addiction and testing anti-alcoholism drugs.

How do bees get drunk?

Bees can get drunk by drinking fermented flower nectar or sap. In the summer heat, nectar ferments and creates ethanol, which bees can ingest and fall prey to the same effects as humans who consume alcohol. Bees that have consumed ethanol appear lost, dizzy, and generally without purpose. They bump into objects, refuse to fly, and forget where they are going.

Tree sap, such as that from lime trees, can also ferment under excessive heat, leading to drunk bees. Additionally, rotting apples are a common cause of bee drunkenness.

The behaviour of drunk bees is not tolerated by the rest of the colony. When a drunken bee returns to the hive, guard bees will eject it from the hive's entrance, often removing its wings and legs. This punishment serves as a warning to the other bees to never neglect their duties to the colony.

The study of bee behaviour when exposed to alcohol has provided valuable insights into the effects of alcohol on humans. Bees have been used to test new anti-alcoholism drugs, as they can ingest large amounts of pure ethanol without dying.

What happens when bees get drunk?

Bees, like humans, can get drunk. They can ingest large amounts of alcohol without being tricked into it—something that is rare among animals. In fact, bees have been observed drinking pure ethanol, something that not even a college student would do, according to Charles Abramson of Ohio State University.

Bees can get drunk by drinking fermented flower nectar, sap, gum, fruit punch, or even a sugary alcoholic drink left on a pub table. In the summer heat, nectar and tree sap (such as that from a lime tree) can ferment, creating ethanol. Rotting apples are another common source of drunkenness in bees.

When bees are drunk, they exhibit similar behaviours to intoxicated humans. They become disoriented, bumping into objects or walls, and are unable to fly. They also have impaired memory processing, with their learning abilities and locomotion affected. They may also stick their tongues out and fall onto their backs, wiggling around depending on their level of intoxication. Drunk bees may also forget where they are going and get lost, eventually dying if they cannot find their way back to the hive.

Drinking is strictly prohibited in bee colonies. When drunken bees return to the hive, they are punished by the guard bees, who act as bouncers. The inebriated bees are ejected from the hive and often have their wings and legs removed in the process. This punishment serves as a warning to the rest of the colony, reminding them of the importance of work to their short lives.

Why do bees like alcohol?

Bees are attracted to alcohol, and they can drink a lot of it. In fact, they can ingest large amounts of 100% proof alcohol without dying. This would be the equivalent of a human drinking pure ethanol.

Honeybees are known to drink fermenting nectar in the wild and to forage on discarded wine bottles. They are also attracted to the fermented nectar of certain flowers, such as bottlebrushes, lemon-scented gums, and banksias. In summer, high temperatures can cause flower nectar to ferment, and bees can stumble upon this while collecting. Similarly, the sap of trees such as lime trees can ferment under excessive heat, and honeybees are very fond of this sap.

Bees are predisposed to alcoholism, and they will choose to consume sugars with ethanol concentrations as high as 20%. They can also be affected by hangovers, which can last up to 48 hours. During this time, they become aggressive, their foraging abilities are negatively affected, and their ability to discriminate between odors is impaired.

The effects of alcohol on bees are similar to its effects on humans. Their blood ethanol level spikes as they become more drunk, and they become slower and less mobile. Drunk bees also tend to stick their tongues out and fly in a zig-zag pattern. If they become very drunk, they will lose their way back to the hive and may die.

Scientists are interested in studying the effects of alcohol on bees because it can help them understand alcoholism in humans. Bees have similar responses to drugs such as Antabuse, which is used to treat alcoholism, so they can be used to test new compounds to see if they show promise as potential drugs.

How do bees get treated for alcoholism?

Honeybees are known to be enthusiastic drinkers, and their willingness to consume alcohol voluntarily makes them ideal research subjects for understanding and treating alcoholism.

While it is unclear if bees can become addicted to alcohol, they do develop alcohol tolerance like humans. They exhibit both metabolic and functional tolerance, with the former allowing bees to absorb alcohol more slowly and remove it from their bodies faster, and the latter enhancing their nervous system's ability to function even when exposed to alcohol.

To study the effects of alcohol on bees, researchers from the Polish Academy of Sciences fed worker honeybees alcohol-spiked food—a sucrose solution with about 1% ethanol—for an extended period. When the bees were cut off from the solution, they experienced withdrawal symptoms, including a marked increase in ethanol consumption and a slight increase in mortality.

The researchers then introduced sugar solutions with alcohol concentrations as high as 20%, and the bees displayed behaviours similar to intoxicated humans, such as impaired locomotion, foraging, and learning abilities.

To treat alcoholism in bees, researchers have turned to Antabuse, a vomit-inducing drug designed to deter humans from drinking alcohol. Charles Abramson of Ohio State University, who has studied honeybees' response to alcohol, found that Antabuse slowed down or stopped the bees' consumption of ethanol solutions. Abramson's team plans to replicate their studies and observe how bees respond to a drunk individual in the hive.

While some researchers question the bees' usefulness in alcoholism research due to their limited brainpower, honeybees' response to alcohol, their ability to develop alcohol tolerance, and their display of withdrawal symptoms provide valuable insights into understanding and treating alcoholism.

Why are drunken bees banished from the hive?

Bees, like humans, can get drunk. And, like many a human, drunken bees will often attempt to return to their hive. But, unlike most human homes, the bee hive is a strict society that does not tolerate drunken behaviour.

When drunken bees return to the hive, they are often met with a vicious response from the guard bees, who act as bouncers. The guards will eject drunken bees from the hive's entrance, and may even bite off their legs or wings. This punishment can be fatal for the drunken bee, but it serves as a warning to the rest of the hive. Work is incredibly important to bees, and their short lives are dedicated to it. Any kind of laziness or indulgence is seen as a criminal offence, and results in assured death.

The harsh punishment also has a practical purpose: if fermented nectar was allowed to enter the hive, it could be turned into honey, and eventually mead, paralysing all of the hive's inhabitants.

The effects of alcohol on bees are similar to its effects on humans. Drunk bees experience impaired motor functioning and memory processing, and may appear lost, dizzy, or unable to fly. They bump into objects, refuse to fly, and forget where they were going. They also tend to stick their tongues out.

Scientists have found that bees can be used to test new anti-alcoholism drugs. Because bees can ingest large amounts of pure ethanol without dying, they can be used to trial the effectiveness of new drugs before human trials begin.

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