The River Bees

Honeybees aren't supposed to like water close to their inner nest... so the bee scientists say. Meet the river bees, a colony living with a stream running through it. The Western Cape in South Africa is a winter rainfall area so during winter this little stream that runs through the River Bees nest swells and becomes a small river. Sometimes this can cause problems in the nest but they have lived with this water for many many years and they know exactly how to handle the heavy downpours. On occasion some of the bees get washed downstream and other bees that are dry will go and find the wet bees and lick them dry. Feed honey to the wet bees from their own honey guts so that they can be retrieved and brought back into the nest. Every bee is important and valued.