Researchers from the Polish Academy of Sciences have found that when bees are regularly given alcohol, they experience withdrawal symptoms when the supply is cut off
In their study, which appeared on Tuesday in Biology Letters, a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Royal Society, the researchers fed the bees a sugar solution spiked with 1% ethanol. Then they discontinued access to the solution to observe the withdrawal effects.
“Workers fed for a prolonged time on food spiked with ethanol, after discontinuation of access to such food, exhibited a marked increase in the consumption of ethanol and a slight increase in mortality,” note the authors. “Our results demonstrate that workers can develop alcohol dependence.”
Bees cut off from their supply of ethanol would willingly drink sucrose solutions containing alcohol concentrations as high as 20%, after which they displayed similar behaviours to intoxicated humans, including impaired movement and social interactions.
The study found that forager bees were affected least by alcohol. This may be due to their evolutionary resistance developed through contact with ethanol outside the hive, as nectar often contains alcohol from fermented yeast.
The researchers – Monika Ostap-Chęć, Monika Opałek, Daniel Stec and Krzysztof Miler – hope to show that bees can be used to study alcohol addiction in humans. “To understand alcohol abuse, the utilisation of animal models is essential,” they wrote.
Main image credit: Guido Gloor Modjib/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
