Garth wrote:
>
> Michael Reddell wrote a number of things about wool.
>
> This intrigued me and I will ad my observations:
>
> > My personal and totally untested theory is that processed wool
> >human scent mimics the scent of some historical predator of bees,
> >such as bears (or maybe even humans who, after all, have worn wool
> >and robbed bees, probably at the same time, for thousands of years.)
>
> The bees here in South Africa also attack wool. Wool is not a common
> ingredient here, although ancient hunter gatherers are known to have
> kept fat tailed sheep they never did anything with the wool. Bears
> are also no wool like, and don't occur here, yet bees still attack
> wool socks. (I have had this happen on a number of occasions when I
> walked by a beehive and the guards buzzed my whole body and stung my
> socks.
>
> Socks are made from wool because it is an absorbtive material. When a
> bee stings it would seem it would need a trigger to tell it what to
> attack. Bees have compound vision so one can assume that what they
> see is big and blurry and when they are close to it, it will appear
> motionless. Hence a big smooth surface will not trigger the sting
> response? So if they find a fluffy sock they may attack as it would
> 'feel' like a place where the furr on the target animal is thin. They
> sting and marker pheremones are released into the wool, which is
> absorbtive. Hence a marker is made from a sock and the more stings,
> the more stings will come.
>
> My theory. I have noticed this with some gloves I have which have a
> spot on one finger which is a bit fluffy as the leather is worn and
> it always gets stung into a pincussion type thing. If the surface is
> absorbtive and bees happen to sting it once, the chances are, due to
> markers, it will be stung again.
 
Ok, this puts my untested theory in jeopardy, but there is definitely
something about the combination of wool and humans that is not good in
the bee yard.  I can wear fuzzy cotton or poyester socks when the bees
are upset and get no reaction around the socks but wool socks are bad
news even on an otherwise calm day.  It really is something specific to
wool.
 
Michael Reddell
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http://www.hotcity.com/~mwr