This morning I looked at the 5 mites that had fallen from one hive over the
previous 24 hours.  I used a x10 magnifying glass.  One was alive and kicking.
Another had the wherewithall to kick, but was unable to do so as it was dead
and had a couple of large dents in the carapace.  The other 3 were more or less
legless and 2 of these also had carapace damage, one having lost almost a
third of it.

This isn't the first time I have looked at fallen mites in that hive but
haven't noticed the damage before.  However, last year in another hive in a
different apiary I recorded over a sequence of observations over several months that
there was a gradual but marked increase in the percentage of fallen mites
showing signs of damage.

I know that these observations are not by a large margin a scientific study,
merely anecdote, but they do prompt the question - Is this an indication of
learning in the hive?  My reason for wondering this is that I would assume a
relatively constant proportion in a hive if it was random grooming or inherited
instinct.

What does the team think?

Chris

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