Bee stings often release alarm pheromones. Pheromone scents might be mistaken for poison, but poison is odorless.
inside: A popular myth is that bees can spray venom, but they really can’t. Instead, it is simply injected with bee venom, a system that works quite well.
Can bees spray venom?
Yesterday, a beekeeper asked if bees can spread venom. I had never heard of bees spraying anything, so I started looking into it. After all, this is a frequently asked question.
The beekeeper who wrote me explained that he was examining a hive with a leader when his eyes started burning. “I didn’t smell anything in the air, but suddenly something splashed in my left eye. At first I thought, ‘Oh, it’s just sweat.’ Eventually, I stopped running, held a hose to my eye to run the water, jumped into the shower, and spent years rinsing my eye out. ”
Her mentor then said the bees were spraying venom and could smell it.
Bee venom is odorless and injected
I spent hours researching this question. All the papers I found agreed on four basic points.
- Since bees do not have atomizers, only stingers, bee venom is always injected into the victim.
- What humans smell is an alarm pheromone, not a poison.
- Alarm pheromones have a distinctive odor, but they are also not sprayed (so the bees must fan the secretions with their wings to disperse them).
Smells like an alarm pheromone
Because alert pheromones are released upon sting, some people confuse the scent of pheromones with venom. When stung, it often smells of pheromones.
When a bee stings something it perceives as a threat, it releases an alarm pheromone to warn other bees of the danger. Alarm pheromones tell colony members that a threat is nearby and trigger defensive behavior. But pheromones themselves are scents, not defensive weapons.
For bees, the alarm odor is strong enough to warn predators (in this case beekeepers) to leave. now.
Many liken the scent of alarm pheromones to the scent of bananas, but often emphasize that they are unpleasant. Bananas are more or less “off” rather than freshly ripe.
Can alarm pheromones cause allergic reactions?
Multiple sources suggest that allergic reactions to alarm pheromones are uncommon, but not impossible.
The exact composition of alarm pheromones varies by location and bee subspecies, but they typically include:
- Isopentyl acetate with a strong fruity aroma similar to bananas. It attracts other bees and warns them of potential threats.
- 2-heptanone has a pungent, slightly unpleasant odor that bees release when they are stressed or in danger.
- Other volatile compounds such as isopentanol, hexyl acetate, octyl acetate, and multiple fatty acid esters. These compounds contribute to the overall scent and effectiveness of alarm pheromones.
Therefore, if a person is allergic to any component of the alarm pheromone, it could, in theory, cause an allergic reaction.
A source suggested the beekeeper may have had an allergic reaction to something else in the hive. Perhaps a particular pollen or something stuck inside the smoker, or maybe she just got a glimpse through the veil. If she had poison on her gloves, it could have been passed on just by rubbing her eyes.
So while we still don’t know what causes the redness and itchiness in our eyes, we do know that bees didn’t spray there. Sure, bees sting, bees bite, and bees headbutt, but as far as we know bees don’t have little atomizers.
Rusty
honeybee suite
please stay with me . .
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