The entrance of a hive is vulnerable to attack by other
bees intent on robbing honey or other insects on the look out for
honey or bees to eat. As a result of this... Honey bees have developed a
'guarding' behaviour whereby a small number of bees 'police' the
entrance and 'vet' would be entrants.
The numbers of bees involved in this activity varies from
zero to a few dozen and is usually carried out by worker bees of
between the fourteen and twenty days of age.
The 'guard' bees monitor the entrance and scrutinise any
bees or other insects attempting entry. If they are 'recognised' by
smell they are allowed to pass unhindered, but if they are deemed a
threat they will be 'roughed up' by one or more guards. In cases
where the colony bees are more defensive this may lead to stinging of
the intruder.
The scuffle of a challenging encounter may impart enough
of the smell from the guards to the would be entrant, so that it
becomes recogniseable and it then allowed entry.
The belligerence of the entrant has some bearing on the
response that it is met with... i.e. a wasp may resist the initial
roughing up and meet with a stinging response, whereas a straying
worker from another colony may be passive and thus allowed rapid
acceptance.
The guarding activity may extend to a region of space
surrounding the hive that can be termed a 'defensive area' (future
link).
Written... 07 December 2001,
Revised... 09 August 2002,
Revised... 05 December 2003,
