Depending on their species, usually bees They live in their nests or beehives. Again, some bees’ habitats may consist of empty trees or rock cavities.

However, as a study shows It appears that a species of bee can live underwater for a long time. So how is this possible?

Scientists have long studied bumblebee diapause, a form of hibernation.

Bees in diapause are generally quiet and calm. They don’t do their usual things, like eating, flying around, or mating. Their diapause may sound like a nice long sleep at first, but it is quite difficult for them to survive for months without food in the cold.

This is especially difficult for wasps. Because they are It produces unpaired queens in late summer. The queens then mate and store a large amount of food before digging small burrows in the ground and entering diapause for 6-9 months.

When winter comes, all the workers and males die, but the queen, who goes into diapause, It emerges in the spring and produces a new generation of drones and workers. Not only must they try to survive, but they must also be ready to find a new hive location, lay eggs, and feed and protect their colony.

On the other hand, thanks to a major lab error, it turns out that water is one of the stressors that bees have evolved to survive on.

Due to an experimental error, researchers at the University of Guelph discovered that in containers containing diapausing bumblebee queens, It causes water to accumulate accidentally.

When they drained the water, surprisingly enough They see that some of the wet queens are still alive. Naturally, they decide to test this amazing ability.

Researchers placed 143 bumblebee queens in soil-filled tubes and then tested them to induce diapause. They carry these pipes to the cooling unit. They then added cold water to 126 of the sleepy queens, while keeping 17 of them dry to serve as a control.

Half of the drowned bees remain floating on the water, while the other half are gently pressed down with a piston-like device.

The scientists then removed the queens from the water and transferred them to normal soil tubes. 8 weeks, even longer in the refrigerator. So they all undergo the same diapause.

17 out of 21 bees participating in the one-week swim program are still alive after eight weeks. That’s a survival rate of 81%. However, the situation is not so good for bees that never get wet. 15 out of 17 dried bees lasted up to 8 weeks. That’s a rate of 88%.

In summary, researchers have discovered that bees can survive underwater for long periods of time, even by chance. They have even discovered that they can hibernate.

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