Australian bees head bang hundreds of times a second for a good cause
Australian bees are no weak sauce North American bumblebee. In fact,
they take a Metallica-inspired approach to pollination, new research has
revealed.
Scientists filmed the Australian blue-banded bee banging its head into a flower 350 times a second. According to a statement
from Adelaide University, the energetic process releases pollen into
the air, pollinating the flower and allowing the insect to spend less
time per flower.
Besides the benefit of discovering Aussie bees are huge Cradle of
Filth fans, the discovery could help point to better crop pollination
techniques. "This new finding suggests that blue-banded bees could also
be very efficient pollinators ─ needing fewer bees per hectare,"
University of Adelaide's Katja Hogendoorn said in the statement. Rage
on, little guys.
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