Hacker News Reader

Now that is an interesting story that I have not seen anywhere.

So if I'm understanding you right, this danger to bees is a sort of hack where our business-needs (namely being able to control what we pollinate and when) cause us to tend these colonies in a way that removes a security precaution (the honey bees "cleaning house" regularly) and these mites happen to be in a great position to shamelessly exploit that precaution and grow beyond bound?

View on HN

You are correct in that the ways we commercially keep bees (our 'business needs') override the mechanisms honeybees evolved for defense against disease.

Swarming is just one of many natural behaviors that enhances the bees' ability to survive. This paper from a prominent bee researcher highlights 20 significant differences between how honeybees evolved to live and how we keep them today, all of which reduce the 'exquisite fit' with their environment:

https://www.naturalbeekeepingtrust.org/darwinian-beekeeping

Swarming cleans house, sort of. They swarm to similar spots or old empty and potentially diseased ones. If you want to find a swarm, so where you last found one. Bees love going into old comb and it’s not a good habit.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com