More than Honey

Just when you think you are beginning to have a pretty good picture of these little critters and their daily pursuits, the bees will come up with something entirely new and outrageous to surprise you. Guaranteed.

Like washboarding. In the afternoon.

See for yourself. Biologist and photographer Alex Wild over at his beautiful Myrmecos Blog has the video:

Alex has two hives in his backyard – but only one of the colonies goes out washboarding in the afternoon. It’s mostly adolescent bees and has been observed at many other occasions, too. But nobody really knows why they do it.

Update 29.08.2010: Some more info on washboarding from Rusty at HoneyBeeSuite.