It has been suggested that honey bees may fly off and not come back, to rid colonies of parasites. Further, the parasites themselves may be initiating this behavior

> Researchers have observed countless examples of parasites hijacking the autonomy of their hosts, only now are they beginning to understand how the parasites tinker with numerous systems within the host, ultimately changing the host’s behavior in grotesque and horrific ways. Directed neurological approaches have flagged certain brain regions and particular neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, as likely culprits.

> In 2002, CNRS’s Thomas and his colleagues published the first formal study that confirmed the accumulating anecdotal reports: crickets infected by hairworms become "suicidal," voluntarily jumping into whatever water they can find. In 2 years of watching an open-air swimming pool near a forest in southern France, Thomas’s team observed nine different insect species dive into the water, at which time the hairworms emerge. He says "We suspect that the worm [evolved proteins] that are similar to those produced by insects to allow the worm to manipulate the behavior."

PLB
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