Page 38 - The Miracle of the Honeybee
P. 38
36 THE MIRACLE OF THE HONEYBEE
As can be seen in the pictures to the side and above,
bees use their mandibles to scrape resin off of trees.
could sicken the hive’s inhabitants.
Somehow, they are also aware that in
order to prevent its decay, the dead crea-
ture needs to be subjected to a specific
chemical process. And so they use propolis,
with its property of killing bacteria, for this
mummification process.
But how do the bees—emerged as adults less
than a month ago—know that this creature will
decay and how to eliminate its eventual harmful ef-
fects? Furthermore, how could they have thought of using,
much less manufacturing—the propolis? Who taught them to do this?
How did the bees discover this substance in the first place? How did they
come by the formula and learn to produce it? How did they transmit the
knowledge of its formula to other bees and hand it down to subsequent
generations of their own?
