Mutant
Bees
Documentary
Durée : 52 '
Support : Digital Betacam - stereo - 16/9 - 4/3
Director : Thierry Berrod
Production : Mona-Lisa - France 5 - Discovery International IRD - CNRS Images
Bees, perhaps more than any other insect, fascinate us
with their astonishing social organisation and their many talents.
Their popularity no longer needs to be proven; we humans hold them in high esteem. Producers of honey and wax, they are the embodiment "par excellence" of the useful insect.
Who has never observed these tiny winged angels as they buzz about from flower to flower gathering nectar, and imagined the sweet and delicious honey that they will later concoct?
Their popularity no longer needs to be proven; we humans hold them in high esteem. Producers of honey and wax, they are the embodiment "par excellence" of the useful insect.
Who has never observed these tiny winged angels as they buzz about from flower to flower gathering nectar, and imagined the sweet and delicious honey that they will later concoct?
Studied
even more closely, bees reveal many other treasures and unsuspected
faculties: communication by dance, flight paths of extreme precision
and an ability to navigate by the position of the sun. Their talents are used increasingly by humans in a number of domains that are as varied as they are surprising: the detection of antipersonnel mines, the environment (measurement of pollution), architecture and aeronautics (honeycomb structure), medicine (apitherapy, the antibacterial properties of certain types of honey). |
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However,
bees do have their dark side. In certain situations, they can become
aggressive and dangerous hordes. Introduced into Brazil in the 1960s for their incomparable capacity for honey production, African bees – genetically modified and crossed with local species – gave birth to a hybrid bee that should have been robust and a good honey producer. After escaping due to a manipulation error, this new race, more resistant and aggressive than the others, has since colonised the entire American continent. Attacks by these killer squadrons are often lethal. So, having created the Killer Bee, humans are now attempting to invent the Bee Without a Sting. |
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