The kung-fu bee

Japanese researchers filmed a honey bee (Apis cerana japonica) slapping ants with its wings as they were about to invade its hive. The video, which can be watched on YouTube at the URL found at the bottom of this text, is a slow motion shot. Using high-speed video cameras, the researchers observed the bees as they struck the ants with their wings, literally bouncing them away with a ‘martial’ technique called ‘wing slapping’. Although bees use other, more complex defence mechanisms, such as forming a 'bee ball' to overheat giant hornets, according to the researchers, wing slapping may be a simpler and more energy-efficient response to deter ants. It is a kind of blow that does not kill the invader but simply sweeps it away, like a cyclone. Killing a hornet requires the cooperation of many bees to smother it in a hot ‘embrace’, since a hornet is much larger and more aggressive than a bee.

The effectiveness of this technique seems to vary depending on the species of warrior ants attacking the hive, suggesting that the ants’ size and speed could determine whether the slap is successful or not. The bigger and faster an ant is, the greater the force required to hurl it out of the hive with a wing slap.

You can watch the video at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqRK70g1U3c&t=5s&ab_channel=IFLScience