WATCH – OH HOW THEY LOVE THE BUZZ –
June 15, 2021 – Researchers from the Polish Academy of Sciences observed that when access to the solution was discontinued, the bees exhibited a “marked” increase of consumption of ethanol as well as a slight in crease in mortality, according to the study. The bees would then willingly consume sugar solutions with alcohol concentrations as high as 20% and then display behaviors similar to alcohol-intoxicated humans, including impaired locomotion, foraging and learning, researchers said. The results of the study demonstrated that the worker bees could develop a dependence on alcohol, especially interesting considering that naturally occurring nectar is often contaminated by alcohol that fermented from yeast, the scientists said.
Among the honeybee workers, foragers outside the hive appeared to show the greatest resistance to the detrimental effects of the alcohol, likely due to evolution as the foragers occasionally encounter ethanol in nature, according to the study.
