PLoS ONE, an international team of researchers described an extraordinary collective defense used by eastern honeybees (
Vespa soror: in response to attack by the hornets, eastern honeybee workers foraged for and applied spots of animal feces around their nest entrances.
An eastern honeybee (
Apis cerana). Image credit: Rushen B.
Honeybees, famous for the resources that their prolific colonies sequester, provide an impressive example of the diversity of nest-defense strategies that have evolved within a geographically widespread group.
Because of their ability to respond to threats collectively, honeybees exhibit varied and often spectacular suites of defensive responses to counteract the predatory pressures that different species face.