Honey bees used to discover US landmines â€" study
Jan 12, 2004
Meet the latest weapon in the fight against landmines ––bees. Yes, regular honeybees. They have proven more effective than sniffer dogs at searching for landmines, scientists said.
Meet the latest weapon in the fight against landmines ––bees.
Yes, regular honeybees. They have proven more effective than sniffer dogs at searching for landmines, scientists said.
Bees can cover a larger area than dogs, with tens of thousands unleashed simultaneously.
And they can be trained in two days, as opposed to six months or more for dogs, scientists said.
Jerry Bromenshenk and Colin Henderson of the University of Montana led a team of scientists who paved way for eradicating landmines using bees.
They know it is a race against time. There are an estimated 110 million landmines scattered across at least 70 countries, killing and maiming around 20,000 people each year, or more than 50 people a day, according to the United Nations Demining Database.
The idea is quite simple, and is based on scientist Ivan Pavlov’s theory of conditioning. Bees set off for their frequent food runs and flock to an “odour of interest,†which is attractive because they associate it with a food source after conditioning.
The bees were tested last year in a simulated mine field in the U.S. Their success rate in finding mines was 90 to 95 percent. The bees covered the field in two days, while most dogs take several days to search a 90-square-metre field and would put at risk the handlers who hold the leashes.
The bees are not quite ready, though. More tests are needed, preferably in a country afflicted with landmines. Henderson estimated that it will take another about two years for bees to take part in a real demining project.
dpa
Yes, regular honeybees. They have proven more effective than sniffer dogs at searching for landmines, scientists said.
Bees can cover a larger area than dogs, with tens of thousands unleashed simultaneously.
And they can be trained in two days, as opposed to six months or more for dogs, scientists said.
Jerry Bromenshenk and Colin Henderson of the University of Montana led a team of scientists who paved way for eradicating landmines using bees.
They know it is a race against time. There are an estimated 110 million landmines scattered across at least 70 countries, killing and maiming around 20,000 people each year, or more than 50 people a day, according to the United Nations Demining Database.
The idea is quite simple, and is based on scientist Ivan Pavlov’s theory of conditioning. Bees set off for their frequent food runs and flock to an “odour of interest,†which is attractive because they associate it with a food source after conditioning.
The bees were tested last year in a simulated mine field in the U.S. Their success rate in finding mines was 90 to 95 percent. The bees covered the field in two days, while most dogs take several days to search a 90-square-metre field and would put at risk the handlers who hold the leashes.
The bees are not quite ready, though. More tests are needed, preferably in a country afflicted with landmines. Henderson estimated that it will take another about two years for bees to take part in a real demining project.
dpa