The perfect creature?

[northernsoul]

I've often heard it said that bees are the perfect creature and therefore haven't evolved at all for millions of years.
so.....why do they swarm very early or very late in a season when there are no drones about leaving queen cells/virgins with no chance of getting mated?

Surely this is something that should have been corrected by evolution?

 

[oliver90owner]

It is. All of the time. Whenever it occurs.

Simple enough?

 

[REDWOOD]

Not always the case, look up Biological Altruism

 

[user 6228]

I've often heard it said that bees are the perfect creature and therefore haven't evolved at all for millions of years.
so.....why do they swarm very early or very late in a season when there are no drones about leaving queen cells/virgins with no chance of getting mated?

Surely this is something that should have been corrected by evolution?

what you've heard is incorrect...

 

[Apple]

I've often heard it said that bees are the perfect creature and therefore haven't evolved at all for millions of years.
so.....why do they swarm very early or very late in a season when there are no drones about leaving queen cells/virgins with no chance of getting mated?

Surely this is something that should have been corrected by evolution?

The environment keeps changing, and species evolve and adapt to it or go extinct?

James

 

[REDWOOD]

The environment keeps changing, and species evolve and adapt to it or go extinct?

James

Or the opposite

 

[northernsoul]

Not always the case, look up Biological Altruism

But it is the opposite of altruism isn't it?

 

[madasafish]

I've often heard it said that bees are the perfect creature and therefore haven't evolved at all for millions of years.
so.....why do they swarm very early or very late in a season when there are no drones about leaving queen cells/virgins with no chance of getting mated?

Surely this is something that should have been corrected by evolution?

Bees aren't the perfect creature. There is not one...although a member of this forum approaches perfection but is too modest to say....

 

[Finman]

I've often heard it said that bees are the perfect creature and therefore haven't evolved at all for millions of years.
so?

Even nature has sometimes bad luck

 

[SixFooter]

You need variation and external forces to act on them for evolution. Most bees do not swarm at inappropriate times, so the evolution has been effective

 

[Erichalfbee]

Slightly off topic
Did anybody see the bees chasing humming birds on Attenborough's Life Story?
Absolutely wonderful shots of them bumping the birds.

 

[madasafish]

Slightly off topic
Did anybody see the bees chasing humming birds on Attenborough's Life Story?
Absolutely wonderful shots of them bumping the birds.

Yes Brilliant

 

[kazmcc]

...although a member of this forum approaches perfection but is too modest to say....

You mean me, don't you?

 

[madasafish]

You mean me, don't you?

Of course.. You are in my thoughts every day as the apothesis of beekeepers...

 

[Little John]

Perfect ? Not quite. I've often thought about one change I would have made (had I been consulted 'n' millions of years ago) ...

If a queen should turn drone layer, and the girls don't notice this - which they tend not to - then the colony is doomed (thank you, Fraser). Yet the queen can still lay eggs - it's just that they are infertile, for lack of sperm.
But - the drones which result from this snafu DO have sperm - it's just that it's in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So - had I been consulted way back then - I'd have suggested an algorithm whereby in extremis a drone is sacrificed by the workers and it's sperm carried hot foot to the drone-laying queen - thus creating a fertile egg to be queened in order to save the colony. A touch of in-breeding on that occasion perhaps, but better that than the demise of the whole shooting-match.

But then, nobody consulted any of my hairy ape ancestors ...

LJ

 

[enrico]

But, little john, then maybe many queens would be drone layers in fact why would they bother leaving the hives if the sperm would be brought to them. Methinks your advice would be flawed!!!

 

[sharonh]

Slightly off topic
Did anybody see the bees chasing humming birds on Attenborough's Life Story?
Absolutely wonderful shots of them bumping the birds.

I saw it. Was lovely to see. He said that the nectar is defended by the bees if they find it. He said one sting could kill a humming bird so they are really fast with acrobatic moves getting away. The slow motion shots were excellent.

 

[richardbees]

The perfect creature?

.....is in the eye of the beholder, I vote for Brigitte Bardot in 1963

 

[thenovice]

It is. All of the time. Whenever it occurs.

Simple enough?

I agree with oliver,

whenever you see this happening, it is evolution in progress. If they swarm in autumn and die, that's yet another genetic variant out of the gene pool...

 

[chrismcd]

I've often heard it said that bees are the perfect creature and therefore haven't evolved at all for millions of years.

Not according to BIBA - they are still very much a work in progress

http://www.bibba.com/origins_milner.php