Question

Japanese honeybees not only co-operate to attack their enemies, researchers now

say their brains may actually be processing and responding to the threat. When

confronted with their arch-enemy, the aggressive giant Asian hornet, the honeybees

will attack it by swarming en masse around the hornet and forming what scientists

call “a hot defensive bee ball” – a move unique to their species. With up to 500 bees

all vibrating their flight muscles at once, the bee ball, heated up to 46 degrees C

(115F) with the bees’ collective body heat, cooks the hornet to death. The high

temperature phase lasts about 20 minutes’ often taking up to an hour before the

hornet dies inside the ball. Researchers at Japan’s University of Tokyo’ through

study of the bees’ brains, have now found that neural activity in bees taking part in

the attack picks up. Set off if bees posted as “guards” at the entrance to the colony

detect an intruder, the move evolved because the bee’s stinger aren’t strong enough

to penetrate the hornet’s tough exoskeleton, researchers said. The research team,

whose latest paper on the phenomenon recently appeared in the scientific journal

PLos ONE, was astounded by the fact that the collective heat generated by the

group, while fatal for the hornet and leaves the bees unaffected.

(a) Besides showing cooperation in attack, Japanese honeybees kill their enemy by

using:

(i) their bodies (ii) their wings

(iii) their legs (iv) their brains

(b) Their biggest threat is:

(i) humans (ii) animals

(iii) birds (iv) hornets

(c) The honeybees attack a hornet by:

(i) flying away (ii) flying around it

(iii) surrounding it (iv) stinging it​

Answer 1

Answer:

(i) their bodies (ii) their wings

(iii) their legs (iv) their brains

(b) Their biggest threat is:

(i) humans (ii) animals

(iii) birds (iv) hornets

(c) The honeybees attack a hornet by:

(i) flying away (ii) flying around it

(iii) surrounding it (iv) stinging