Talk:Swarming (military)
|
| Metadata here |
The biology section needs some collaboration to correct inaccuracies. I know little about the military side of this, so am reluctant to try to tackle it. But here are some concepts. Swarming among bees has nothing to do with either attacks or defense; it is a reproductive act, where a portion of a colony leaves with the queen to find a new home. This is often repeated as in a large "prime swarm" and smaller "after swarms". After swarms will contain virgin queens. The remainder of the colony, with a newly mated queen will then rebuild. There is no stinging involved in this process. Bees who swarm fill up with honey before the act and could sting only with difficulty when so gorged.
Many times I have stood in the middle of flying swarms (with no protection whatsoever), as I try to spot the queen in the air. They are totally intent on following the queen (by odor mostly) and have always ignored me. Sometimes a bee or two will land on me, but then take back off in a couple minutes. Thus a person who gets stung and says he was "swarmed by the bees" is just talking gibberish.
A bee swarm is highly vulnerable and will exhibit no defensive behavior whatsoever, until they establish a new home. When the queen is laying and there is brood in the new home, then they will once again defend their nest.
Stinging is a defensive act for social hymenopterans that has nothing to do with swarming. It is initiated by a perception of a threat to the colony, such as vibrations or visual movement within its territorial claim. Then it is further governed by the release of pheromones in the air and on the object of the defense. Honey bee alarm pheromone smells like overripe bananas. There is no plan or coordination involved, and if the subject of the stinging removes from the claimed territory, the stinging ceases. A less common type of stinging is simply reflexive, as when a bee is trapped in clothing and is squeezed. Or a person standing in the bee's habitual flight path to and from the hive gets bumped and then reflexively stung. Of course the sting releases the alarm pheromone and can lead to further stings. David L Green 08:41, 4 May 2008 (CDT)
Thanks -- might be terminology
The idea of pheromone release causing alarms, and individual stings, is exactly the model the military is using.
As far as the reproductive behavior among honeybees, I was aware of it, but knew it as "hiving". This may very well not be the correct term from an entomological standpoint.
From limited personal experience, I've seen people blunder into wasp and ant nests, with an initial "ouch", but then increasing panic with more stings, and perhaps doing even more damage to the nest and accelerating the stings.
The military analogy is that it is highly desirable for the enemy to be "stung" in a way that seems random, but becomes more frequent, and exploits what indeed may be panicky behavior. Whether it is a shield wall of sword-armed infantry, a WWII bomber formation with mutually reinforcing defensive guns, or a team of tanks and motorized infantry, the unit that breaks formation is likely to be the one that dies. "Barbarians" might individually be more lethal swordsmen than Romans, but as long as the Romans kept up their shield wall, protecting their javelin hurlers, they were invincible. Germanic tribes wore down three Roman legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, until the tight formations broke up and there was more single combat.
Is there a more precise term that describes the reflexive stinging, and the call of alarm pheromones, the latter being the insect equivalent of military attack target location and synchronization of attacks? Howard C. Berkowitz 09:48, 4 May 2008 (CDT)