Okay, but where?

[solarbird]

I was reading a story about bee recognition of human faces. (Short form: they do, and pretty accurately. For a few days, anyway.) In it, the researcher was referenced saying:

Dyer said that if bees can learn to recognize humans in photos, then they reasonably might also be able to recognize real-life faces. On the other hand, he remarked, this probably isn’t the explanation for an adage popular in some parts of the world—that you shouldn’t kill a bee because its nestmates will remember and come after you.

So now I'm wondering:

[Poll #1026813]

Comments

[sculpin.livejournal.com]

At least, I'm in Seattle. I'm not quite sure where I picked it up.

*handwave* pheromones *handwave*

[sculpin.livejournal.com]

What I do remember now is that the nestmates weren't supposed to remember you visually so much as that they were supposed to be able to smell the dead bee on you for a few days. Perhaps that's a more scientific-sounding gloss on the old superstition.

[kodi]

I've heard that if you kill a bee, it's nestmates will instantly know, and come after you. But not that they would stalk you to the end of your days.

[solarbird]

It doesn't say anything about stalking you until the end of your days, so I'd call that a "yes" instead of a "no." So where'd you hear it?

[kodi]

Ah, I thought "remember" was the key word - the picture that was painted for me was you're strolling through a meadow, you step on a bee, and suddenly an apocalypse of bee fury erupts from a nearby hive and chases you.

I heard it in Dallas TX, but I may have heard it from my relatives, all from Akron OH.

[l-l-u-w-d.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, but it's quite possible I heard something of the sort, about bees recognizing you, from a cousin of mine. He, and his son, after him, was a beekeeper for years and years back near where I grew up. That's the only logical place that I can think of I heard it from. But, I did hear it, as a child, I know that for sure.

[arethinn]

I keep reading "recognize human feces." *shakes head*