bumble bee rehabilitation

[nabha meghani]

I think now I have enough evidence that bumble bee is not just a robber. Here it is working hard transporting loads of pollens from one flower to other.

Here I take the opportunity to show the various color varieties of Stockrose (Ger.) Hollyhock (Engl.)  Alcea rosea (sci) from my garden in Ritterhude. Fotos taken in june 2010. 

I have in my garden, a Schlaraffenland  (Cockaigne?) for the bees where food and drink is plentiful.

 

Btw. I wonder, has anyone seen or read, that bees, butterflies etc prefer to drink fermented fruit sap, nectar rather than normal sap, and if they get drunk afterwards?  I have read that in laboratories experiments are carried out to this respect. But in nature, does any insect get drunk? In my garden I have seen many bees drinking sap of fallen mirabelles, but havn't seen drunken bees so far.

Regards

Nalini

[Pankaj Kumar]

As far as I can understand, they prefer fresh nectar. They may get
tempted to to any flower which is brightly coloured, whether its
fallen on ground or still on the mother plant. I would really be
interested in knowing of a drunk bee !!! sounds funny to me, yet so
interesting....
Regards
Pankaj

[tanay bose]

Whats Pankaj Ji said is really worthy and though I have less knowledge about insect but I have heard same from some of my friends.

 

Tanay

--
Tanay Bose
+91(033) 25550676 (Resi)
9830439691(Mobile)

[Pankaj Oudhia]

Nalini ji,

I posted your query to Entomo-L list. I have received one response so far. Please see the message pasted below.

-----
Many years ago I watched various bees, wasps, and butterflies congregating on a
sand pine (Pinus clausa). The butterflies in particular would perch on foliage
and then then drop as if dead to the ground. A few minutes later they'd flutter
back to their perch and do it again. In the spring, sand pines are known to
heavily produce volatiles and I couldn't help but think that the butterflies
were getting drunk on the compounds.

----
Michael C. Thomas, Ph.D.
Florida State Collection of Arthropods
Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
P.O. Box 147100
Gainesville, FL 32614-7100
352-372-3505 ext 187 tho...@doacs.state.fl.us
--------

regards

Pankaj Oudhia

On Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 4:40 PM, nabha meghani <nabha-...@gmx.de> wrote:

[nabha meghani]

Thank you very much Pankaj ji, for the interesting info.

I had seen one film. In the lab they made a spider drunk and then the spider started making a cobweb. It was nothing like a normal symetrical cobweb. But the spider "was made drunk", and I was just curious to know if the insects (of all sorts) can distinguish between normal and fermented sap. If they like fermented sap like the human beings like bear or wine or whatever.

I know, I don't normaly drink alkohol, but when I come back from jogging, especially in summer, a glas of bear does good to me. Do insects too like alkohol under certain conditions?

OK, I know this question is not about plants and flowers, but group members do all sorts of observation, so I put my query here. People, please excuse me if I am breaking the rules!

Regards

Nalini