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The much-hyped total solar eclipse that streaked across the United States in 2017. Instead of working or playing, we seem to be at the bunch of weirdos for a bit, but apparently, people have been affected by the show.
In a new study published in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America, the researchers explain that they need to take a break from their busy days. When the moon gets out of the sun for a few brief moments on August 21st of last year, bee just kind of shut down.
The scientists set up tiny microphones in beehives to test how the insects would react to the sun. Before the experiment began, the team expected that they would move forward as soon as they began to work in the night. That's not what happened.
Instead, the bees are fully active until they are totally blocked by the Moon – seemingly not noticing the eclipse as it was happening until that point. When totality hit, however, the bees immediately shut down, instantly entering a low-energy mode that persists until the Sun peaks around the moon.
"We anticipate, based on the reports of the literature, that this activity would be reduced to a minimum." Dr. Candace Galen of the University of Missouri, lead researcher on the work, said in a statement. "But, we would not expect that the change would be so abrupt, that we would continue to fly until then completely, completely. It was like 'lights out' at summer camp! That surprised us. "
Oregon, Idaho, and Missouri, including the elementary school students who helped the scientists listen to the bees' behavior was shifting. The result was truly unexpected, and thus far unexplained, and adds another wrinkle to the complex behavior of bees.
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