Robert writes:
What is the effect of light inside a pitch dark beehive?

In a move which could well turn out to be even less warm, fuzzy & popular
than any of my contributions so far, I will say I'm baffled at this
unanimous belief that inside a beehive is pitch dark.


Robert,
Well, it is far from unanimous. I suggest that many people have never
thought about it, but since they only see the hive when it's open -- they
don't consider that it may be dead dark in there.  But certainly light is
*not required* for any of the internal hive functions! There are nests deep
inside tree trunks. The bees make no particular effort to find cavities
where some light is admitted. Compare this to other species who nest in the
open. They perform the dances on top of the comb in the light, whereas hive
bees perform the dance in the dark, and translate the direction toward the
sun as "up". Perhaps you could show or allude to which activities might be
affected by light, aside from foraging, etc.


pb