I was in science class and my incredibly boring teacher showed us a video on insects. The hot chick behind me asked me a question that I’m really wondering myself “How do they get the cameras in the hives and stuff?” How do they?! I feel like a fifth grader just asking it, but thankfully, I don’t mind…ANYway, how DO they do it without the insects or other animals running away or flying and without noticing.
sorry guys. I accidentaly clicked on the wrong one and posted this in the wrong place. Sorry guys.
'SOK, Wfoot, I have moved this to General Questions forum…and fixed the title.
Id imagine that its a combination of small cameras placed in a single location over a long period of time (run to hive, set camera… RUN AWAY!!!) and some zooming. I suppose if they leave cameras in a location for a while, the bees get used to it. Maybe they can even have the camera move around a bit.
I think I read somewhere that bees don’t attack things that are already in the hive. They attack anything that tries to get in, but once inside they don’t really respond. I guess the Borg is modeled on bees.
The camera can be pretty small. Ever had an endoscopic exam of your throat? They stick a probe into your nose. The probe is flexible and only about 1/4 inch in diameter.
Honey bees (well some species) won’t usually attack unless provoked; the other day I saw a documentary where they showed a tree with a huge cluster of honeybees in it (not a hive, just a big swarm of bees like this; the presenter very carefully inserted both hands right into the swarm and stood there saying “hmmm, yes, it’s very warm in there”, then gently pulled his hands out and walked away.
Of course this is only a very specific example; if he’d tried it with a wasp or hornet nest, he’d be dead or in severe pain.
They use specially constructed hives with a glass back. Often the hive will be constructed on the wall of a studio so the camera operator can sit in the warm and drink coffee.
Mangetout and ticker amplification: If regular honey bees like you and don’t feel threatened, they’ll let you open the hive and mess with them. We used to have bees, and I was never stung. (My sisters were.)
So it would be easy to stick a camera in.
A hive with a glass wall is another technique. Better if you just want to hang out and watch the whole thing at work. As I recall the bees prefer that wall to have subdued light.
Honeybees are only really aggressive when they detect a threat to the honey store - which is absolutely vital to the bee’s collective survival. Otherwise, even a swarm of bees can be quite passive.
I remember seeing a documentary about the highly developed behaviour of bees and the remarkable experiments used to investigate them - and yes, it was all done with a glass back to the hive. I suspect that as long as the room behind the glass is kept dark, the bees will not be much troubled.