I can’t say that I fully comprehend the deep moral and possibly spiritual lesson I should be taking away from this short yet shocking video of a man happily driving around thousands of bees, but I do realize that I should be taking some lesson away. And I think that’s pretty important. Because watching this tiny little video of a man driving with a huge colony of bees inches from his face and maintaining not just a calm demeanor, but actual, genuine-seeming joy feels important. The incident seemed to happen a bit over a year ago in Huangshan, Anhui Province in eastern China. For whatever reason, it’s come up into the feed of stuff coming up in my internetical feeds today, which is how I encountered this.
So, no, this is not breaking news; the bees could either be gone by now, or they could have built a lovely hive there in the car and are continuing to travel happily in it to this very day. I don’t know, and, I don’t think it’s all that important, because I think the man’s reaction to this swarm of bees is what is really important here.
Just watch:
He really couldn’t be any less concerned; in fact, he states “what luck,” referring to a Chinese belief that bees were good luck that stems from ancient times. The calm, smiling man notes that he was “driving, and all these bees came in,” which is itself interesting, as I think I would likely have assumed the bees would have entered the car while it was stationary. But why would the bees want to get in the car in the first place? They can fly! They don’t need to use Uber or whatever.
Bee News, a site that bills itself, unsurprisingly, as the “Bee News Community,” did an article about the car-bees, and notes that the swarming behavior seen here is one caused by a large group of bees leaving one (presumably overcrowded) colony and setting off to found a new one.
The bee-focused publication also reached out to Iowa State University Professor Emeritus Donald Lewis, who added
“Clusters usually remain stationary for an hour to a few days, depending on the weather and the time needed to find a new nest site by scouting bees.”
… which suggests that the man’s thousands of bee friends likely didn’t stick around too long. I do wonder if the mobile nature of the swarm caused any problems for the scouting bees in finding their way back to the swarm? Because even if the swarm thinks its being stationary inside the car, we know that, of course, it isn’t?
By the way, if any of you out there are big fans of Professor Lewis’ etymology work, here’s a video of him talking about Iowa’s vegetable insect pests:
Hell yeah, you tell ’em, Professor Lewis!
Professor Lewis also noted that the swarm would be unlikely to attack anyone unless provoked, and I don’t think the driver with his thousands of bee passengers is likely to do that.
Most people I know freak the fuck out if there’s a bee in their car. In fact, I think that’s one of the rare times I’ve seen full-grown adults genuinely lose their shit in a small space; but there sits that man, driving with thousands of bees by his head, as likely to freak out as he is to start spitting out individually-wrapped Kit Kat bars.
I still think there’s a lesson here; perhaps we should all endeavor to be more like the driving man, unfazed by thousands of bees.
I once read a suggestion that a significant percentage of single vehicle accidents that happen in daylight and clear weather without the vehicle malfunctioning are caused by people panicking when there’s a spider, wasp or other unpleasant bug in the vehicle. Seems likely even if we’ll never know the true numbers. What are the chances that survivors will admit to the cops and insurance company that they were waving their arms around to ward off a bee or frantically slapping their legs to make sure the spider they saw wasn’t crawling up their pants?
> etymology
You’re thinking of entomology.
People who can’t distinguish between etymology and entomology bug me in ways I can’t put into words.
Oh buzz off
(Also, genius comment)
Ive heard they cant sting while swarming because they load up with food for the trip and thus cant extend the stinger.I haven’t been tempted to test this claim.For sure there are some losers among them who didnt get the memo,are hungry and annoyed
The buzz is that the driver was driving a Dodge Super Bee.
I hope he had “flight of the bumblebee” on repeat while driving
I would be more like jackass guys in the limo
I’d have gotten out of the car immediately because – like the Monkees – I’m a bee leaver.
You drive a Kia Stinger?
Super Bee.
My Grandpa kept bees and I was fortunate enough to learn the apiary arts from him. The main thing I learned was not to be afraid of them. Yes I got stung many times, but I luckily have no allergy to them and frankly, it stopped hurting eventually such that I even stopped wearing the bee suit (I still wore the hat cause head stings always hurt).
Bee are fucking awesome and no one who isn’t allergic should fear them in any way.
I thought the beemobile was a Chevy?
[hangs head]
Yes.
Bee: the change you want to see in the world.
He’s probably excited to have the only bees left in China, he’s gonna be rich!
(granted it’s a problem everywhere)
Not as big a problem as it was 5 years ago.
https://fortune.com/2024/04/03/hobbyist-beekeepers-reverse-americas-critical-bee-shortage-5-years-record-colonies/
Well, nobody will ask him for a ride now, so that’s a plus!
Driving while buzzed is a crime.
Way to bee a buzzkill.
This thread is just gonna drone on.
It’s giving me hives.
Tell me about it, honey.
You’ve all really shown your stripes here today.
Thank you, I just signed my sister up for their mailing list. I’m sure she’ll be very happy I did that.
Oh this is an excellent idea! My sister is going to enjoy this too!
Oh boy, my sister is going to enjoy this more than the time I gave her a “Sounds of the Rainforest” smoke alarm as a gift (joke box). “Wake up to your next house fire feeling relaxed and refreshed!”
I can’t remember the last time my sister and I sent the other an actual practical and useful gift. Last Christmas sent her a potato from potatoparcel.com with the message, “Did you know you can print a message on a potato?”
In my case the box was a joke box sold by The Onion. It was fantastic. She literally thought I bought her some crappy stupid thing.
Inside (this was… 2006?) was a VERY good point-and-shoot Panasonic digital camera, big SD card, and other stuff. Yet she wouldn’t open the box, and instead was sitting there all salty. Eventually my mom (who knew) prompted her to show everyone the smoke alarm, she opened and saw what was actually inside and freaked out.
My family is used to it by now, anyone who receives a “bad gift” knows to open it 😉
oh. that’s what you’re supposed to do. trying to be funny, a much younger me once gave an actual lump of coal in a velvet jewelry box from a local goldsmith. not a good christmas dinner.
(to clarify in the context of this thread, the recipient wasn’t my sister).
I’d be concerned about shutting the door, opening the door, starting the car, driving with the windows down, and driving with the windows up. I feel like any of those actions could be perceived as a threat to the hive. Glad this guy was so happy, though. Looks like it was turning out pretty well for him.
I’d just call a beekeeper to come get them and find them an appropriate hive. Between thinking I could be seen as a threat and worrying I’d mess up their attempt to find a hive location, I’d worry too much to drive with them.
I mean, one of the other articles on Bee News is about a guy dying when bees invaded his car… So… Yeah. https://beenews.newsx.agency/driver-dies-stung-to-death-after-bees-invade-his-car/
I’m not allergic, so I don’t think I need to worry too much about that outcome, but I do worry about a swarm both because that’s a lot of stings and because I want them to just go on and create a hive. I don’t want to stress them.
Not the Bees!
*Insert Nic Cage Meme*
My first thought was a different movie. I immediately thought of Tommy Boy.
they’re huge and their sting crazy!
your firearms are useless against them