OTTAWA, Canada (Kashmir English): A recent study has found that queen bees can survive underwater for up to a week.
Ecologist Sabrina Rondo discovered it accidentally when she found four queen bees in a frozen container inside a refrigerator. To her surprise, all four queens were still alive.
SCUBA stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, a term coined by Dr. Christian Lambertsen in 1952.
The term refers to equipment that allows divers to carry their own air source, offering independent underwater movement.
It is commonly used to describe both the sport (scuba diving) and the breathing apparatus itself.
Rondo found that the bees were in a state known as diapause, similar to hibernation in winter.
Normally, when ice melts and heavy rains flood the land, it is assumed that bees drown. However, scientists now believe that these bees can survive under water for up to a week.
Professor Charles Anthony Darrow from the University of Ottawa, who co-authored the study with Sabrina Rondo, said that the research began after a discussion with his colleague.
He said that their findings suggest that queen bees are capable of spending more than a week submerged, challenging previous assumptions about their survival in flooded conditions.
Queen bees
Queen bees are the crucial, fertile female center of a honeybee colony, responsible for laying up to 2,000–3,000 eggs daily and producing pheromones that maintain hive cohesion and regulate worker behaviour.
They live for 2-3 years, possess a smooth stinger for fighting rivals (not for defence), and are fed exclusively royal jelly, according to journals.
