Funeral rituals are common for us humans, but they’re rarely observed among other animal species. But, nature is very exciting and always surprise in the most unique ways. We still haven’t unlocked its mysteries, and this article is proof of it. A recent video made the rounds on the Internet, showing a group of ants covering a dead bumblebee in flower petals. No one knows what it actually is, but it looks like a ritual rite – more specifically, a funeral.
A Strange Phenomenon
The video was filmed by Nicole Webinger, a woman from Minnesota. She said it occurred in the garden outside her work place. A dead bumblebee lays on the ground, and the group of ants is bringing flower petals and surrounding her body. It very much looks like a funeral. It didn’t take long for the video clip to go viral. It prompted a much larger conversation about rituals in the animal kingdom. Was this one such rite or a coincidental grouping?
Not surprisingly, a behavioral ecologist joined in the discussion. Mark Elgar from the University of Melbourne said that it’s a great video and he’ll show it to his first-year biology class next year. He says that while it looks like a funeral, it’s not. As a matter of fact, it’s a natural occurrence. All the ants are doing is most likely covering the scent of the bee from predators so they can snack on it themselves. Grim, isn’t it?
Another theory suggested by Elgar is that the ants think the bee is one of their own. When they die, both ants and bees release oleic acid. The group of ants must have found the bee when they were transporting flower petals, thinking it was one of them. In their world, any deceased members are carried to a refuse heap.
Discarding dead bodies is common for ants and bees, and is done as far away from the nest as possible. They always feed on dead bodies to break them down as well as other trash. This keeps bacteria and mold away from the nest, which is actually a very smart idea. So, even if it looks like a funerary rite, the video probably shows something much different.
According to the Senior Curator of Hymenoptera at the National History Museum in London, these are probably harvester ants. They were taking petals back to their nest as food, and the bee somehow ended up blocking the entrance. In reality, the dead bumblebee may just be an obstacle for the ants.
No one can tell for sure, but it’s unlikely to be a funeral for the bee. Still, it’s a powerful and exotic video that we don’t get to see every day.
