The Bee's Knees

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My Azealea

"This is a good hiding spot, she will never see me!"

Awe!  She saw me!  :(

But hey!  I am available for adoption!

Janine'e Memorial Weekend

GET THAT CAMERA OUT OF MY FACE!

SAFFY!~  I want someone to adopt me please....  

I think I love my new potential adopter Audrey!

Oh yah!  Another good hidin' spot!

I thought I would post some information on stuff I am always curious about, in other animals, insects, humans, etc.  and today, we feature THE BEE.

Do Bees Sleep?

Do bees sleep, do they sleep at night, and if so, where and how do we know they are sleeping?

As one of the most studied creatures on the planet, it’s no surprise that scientists have asked many questions, including “do bees sleep?”

First, some simple questions and answers, but further down the page, we get into the science, in case you want to read it!

Please note, that all of the research contained in this article relates to honey bees.  I make some remarks about bumble bees later.

Do bees sleep?

The short answer to the first question is: according to scientists, YES, bees do sleep! 

How do we know bees sleep and how do they sleep?

Scientists have looked at how humans and other mammals sleep, and they have found bees do similar things. 

For example, just as humans (and other mammals) take on a very relaxed posture, and go through different phases of sleep (relaxed, light sleep, deep sleep), so do bees! 

So how do they sleep and what do they look like when they are sleeping?
It turns out that when a bee is in deep sleep, their antennae droop downwards, the upper body (thorax) drops as does the tip of the abdomen (or tail), and the wings rest on the body. 

Look closely, and you can see this in the images below. 

Note how in the first image (A), the bee is alert: it has wings up and extended, the whole body is off the ‘floor’, and antennae are facing forward. 

Note the changes in the body posture as the bee falls into a deep sleep - in picture D! 

This image is from the scientific paper; ref:  Eban-Rothschild, A. D. and Bloch, G. (2008). Differences in the sleep architecture of forager and young honeybees (Apis mellifera). J. Exp. Biol. 211,2408 -2416

Scientist also found that body temperature of bees drops when they sleep (it does in humans too!) and that the deeper a bee is sleeping, the brighter the light needed to wake the bee – again, a little like humans.  Finally, certain distinct patterns happen in the brain when bees are sleeping.

Have a GREAT day!

“Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.”