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Bees Enlisted to Attack Crows in Tokyo

news.nationalgeographic.com — Conservationists hope bees will repel the crows, based on the insects' tendency to attack anything dark-colored that approaches their hives. Young terns can't defend themselves against the crows, so we tried to find ways to protect them at the nesting site. As part of the project, the group sells about 660 pounds (300 kilograms) of honey

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  • JKAL, on 07/15/2008, -5/+6Someone has not done their research, they will now attract these
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=3NL-j09GuRA

    The same sad story humans trying to solve human issues by changing the eco system.
    they will rue this decision the same way the Australians are after introducing the Cane Toad for a similar reason (a Human need).
    • JKAL, on 07/15/2008, -3/+1better version of video (original), ironically from nationalgeographic
      http://youtube.com/watch?v=n4wRIERp6Vs
    • Phearce, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2FYI - video documents how non-native European Honey Bees living in Japan are defenseless against the native Giant Hornet, while native Japanese Honey Bees have a defense strategy.
    • dext3r, on 07/17/2008, -0/+17Skinner: Well, I was wrong; the lizards are a godsend.
      Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
      Skinner: No problem. We simply release wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
      Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?
      Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
      Lisa: But then we're stuck with gorillas!
      Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death
    • bphicke, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see European bees anywhere in the article. How is this video relevant?
    • noseeme, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Actually, this is kind of a cultural thing. The Japanese love "editing" nature to make it more pleasing.
  • rinpoche, on 07/15/2008, -7/+5Why don't they issue everybody a sword and a decree from teh Emperor to go out and kill crows?
    • Duositex, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1Because in Japan they already HAVE swords. Haven't you seen ANY movies?? Sheesh.
    • ProfessorLX, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1it'll be like the rape of nan king, but on crows instead
      • dannyapplesauce, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1That's just awful. Too bad many Americans have never even heard of Nanking and the Japanese still dispute the numbers.
  • shutaro, on 07/15/2008, -1/+30If it were me, I'd go with the dogs... With bees in their mouths, so that when they bark they shoot bees.
    • Phearce, on 07/17/2008, -5/+1LOL, like one of the weapons in Whacked! where you chase players with a hornet's nest on a stick and they're chased by an angry swarm.
    • KeepSwinging, on 07/17/2008, -0/+4Do the Simpsons imitate life, or does life imitate the Simpsons?
  • bronowiczj, on 07/17/2008, -5/+8Better BEE careful..... (PUNALICIOUS!)
    • veggiemoore, on 07/17/2008, -0/+4Ugh, you should be punished for that one. Maybe sent to the punitentiary.
    • Duositex, on 07/17/2008, -2/+3PUNTALITIY! Flawless victory.
    • quomen, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3Just be quiet.
      ZzzZzzzzZING!
    • Rystic, on 07/17/2008, -2/+2Booooo... Get off the stage.
  • Fatherspirit, on 07/17/2008, -5/+0Son Of A B.!! (Bee) :-)
  • tvnews, on 07/17/2008, -0/+22"based on the insects' tendency to attack anything dark-colored that approaches their hives."
    Racist bees!
    • cdigioia, on 07/17/2008, -0/+9You say racist - but when your hive is on the line...and there's some hoodlum looking dark bird coming near, what are you gonna do? What are you gonna DO??
      • RealmDown, on 07/17/2008, -0/+3Start preparing your media replies against the inevitable Jesse Jackson attacks.
    • Naqaj, on 07/17/2008, -0/+4Since the vast majority of japanese has black hair, I'd expect this to cause further problems ...
    • thejuggernaut11, on 07/17/2008, -0/+0Bees? I would punch every bee in the face. ***** bees.
  • shauntacular, on 07/17/2008, -0/+11That is so kick ass! Birds vs. Bees!
    • NRay7882, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1That is of coarse until the crows send in ACHILLES!
  • jsavage58, on 07/17/2008, -3/+1why can't we just leave ***** alone... fast forward two years and the next story will be how these bee's are now attacking children..
    Story's all the time about how people move ***** around to try to make things better.. put a dam here, introduce XXXX insect here, to combat XXXX insect there, Plant this tree here, because it repels whatever animal there. its just fux ***** up.. stop it
    • bosssmiley, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1We can fix this...

      "The postman was bitten by a mongoose living in the letterbox this morning."
      "I have a feeling I'll regret this, but how did a mongoose end up living in a letterbox?"
      "We put mongooses in the letterbox to keep down the snakes."
      "How did snakes get in a letterbox?"
      "Oh, we put them in to eat the toads."
      "And toads got in there how?"
      "We put them in to eat the snails. Although to be fair the snails climbed in themselves..."
      -- "Making Money" Terry Pratchett
  • j0hnk377y, on 07/17/2008, -1/+6I thought that bees were on the verge of being extinct, and now they are kicking ass like a superhero in Japan.....
    • Fratz, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Their numbers are diminishing worldwide. This scheme seems like a waste of bees, given that bees can only sting once and then die. Why accelerate the bee losses?
  • Vertabreaker, on 07/17/2008, -4/+5I'll punch a bee in the face.
  • innocentsinner, on 07/17/2008, -5/+2An Amazon attack, a deadly bee weapon. Bees. My God.
    http://bp2.blogger.com/_bdVR-JIDi2g/RoNIISPEXzI/AA ...
    • WootZoot, on 07/17/2008, -1/+1Are you people dense? Are you retarded or something? You're digging down the god damn batman!
  • evanfrey, on 07/17/2008, -3/+11Skinner: ahh, but as it turns out the lizards where a god send since they've eaten all the pigeons.
    Lisa: Isn't that a little short sighted, what happens when where up to our ears with lizards?
    Skinner: Ah, well we shall simply release wave after wave of Chinese needles snakes.
    Lisa: then what about the snakes?
    Skinner: We simply import gorillas who will eat all the snakes.
    Lisa: Well what happens when where up to our ears in gorilla's!
    Skinner: Ah that's the beauty of the thing, come winter the gorillas will freeze to death.
  • str3ama, on 07/17/2008, -1/+2Puts new meaning in to the birds and the bees
  • jdames1980, on 07/17/2008, -1/+3What could possibly go wrong?
  • Samascub, on 07/17/2008, -3/+0"based on the insects' tendency to attack anything dark-colored that approaches their hives."

    No wonder bees hate black bee keepers
  • commiecat, on 07/17/2008, -0/+12For a split-second, I thought that it said "Crowds".
    • toolsdrummer, on 07/17/2008, -0/+4I read the summary 3 times thinking it said "Cows." I couldn't imagine how they had room for cows in Tokyo.
  • Sandkat, on 07/17/2008, -1/+4I hate those stupid crows. They're huge, loud, and aren't shy to go after whatever they want. A friend of mine once forgot and left her bento lunch in her bike when she got to work. About 5 minutes later she remembered and went out to retrieve it but the crows had already torn through the plastic bag, the plastic cover on the bento box, and taken every single morsel of food out of it.
  • ladbroke, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1I don't see this plan going hopelessly awry. No siree.
  • zerhynn, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/cup/

    BEES. BEES. BEES.
  • dudefather, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Someone got their sex education lessons confused by the sound of it
  • Asianwaste, on 07/17/2008, -0/+6Those ravens are vicious and clever as hell. On my base I was patrol and saw some creepy surgical ***** they do. Most significant was one team flew through a door of a park garbage can, so that another can slip in and grab something. Then fly out with a bag of McDonald's left overs.
    I saw on a Japanese documentary one where at a coastal temple there was a bowl for donations and on the docks is a vending machine for live bait. I kid you not, a raven takes some change from the bowl and puts it in the machine to get the bait.
    They also have a mind to exploit weaknesses. They have been known to attack infants when a mother looks away for a minute and I remember on my patrol I saw a huge gathering of them crowding one spot on the ground. I chased them away to find a corpse of a raven picked nearly to the bone. Supposedly they are cannibalistic and will kill an injured or weak link in their packs.

    The other thing I saw was one particular raven that carries a 10 piece mcnugget box around to carry its food. I saw that guy for days with the same box.
  • welestgw, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2Homer: Bart, you’re coming home.

    Bart: I want to stay here with Mr. Burns.

    Burns: I suggest you leave immediately.

    Homer: Or what? You’ll release the dogs, or the bees, or the dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees at you? Well, go ahead—do your worst!
  • nrose101, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Look like Mulder and Scullley need to get to Tokyo and fast!
  • milkmage, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1they're using bees to protect the birds.... but we're the one's ***** up the birds in the first place: FTA:
    That's because the terns' nesting sites in the country are being destroyed by construction work and other human activities, so the birds are considered potentially at risk in the future.
  • JointVenture, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1...they took our Beeeeeeeeee's.
  • liuite, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1just wait until they somehow breed with Africanized bees
  • Black6x, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1I saw the title and thought this was an Onion article.
    • SpacePoet, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Believe it or not crows are becoming a serious problem. It is the degradation of our environment that leaves room for them to come in as scavengers and the also attack and kill many native species. Florida over the last 3 years has been completely inundated with crows and they have killed off many local birds.
  • Wakkyweed, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Apparently my dad had it COMPLETELY wrong when he told me about the birds and the bees.
  • h0dges, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1LOL

    i thought it said 'crowds' :D
  • Duckert, on 07/17/2008, -0/+0Gob: Old Big Bear; He loved some honey.


    The tears just aren't comin'
  • PhillyMJS, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Obligatory Tommy Boy quote:
    "Bees! Bees! Bees in the car! Bees everywhere! God, they're huge! They're ripping at my flesh! Run away, your firearms are useless against them!"
  • NihilistZealot, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2When my dad told me about the birds and the bees, he said:
    "Sometimes the stinging hurts, but in a good way"
  • paulot, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Attack!!
  • icyhaught, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1So did anyone else misread the title of the story and think bees were going to be attacking COWS in Tokyo?
  • ddawggin, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Will not make awkward attempt at racial humor...Will not make awkward attempt at racial humor...
    Will not make awkward attempt at racial humor...
  • Bodhinature, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1So bees aren't disappearing all over the world! They have been systematically kidnapped and relocated to Japan for anti-crow re-education to become a giant crow killing army! Colony Collapse Syndrome my ass!
  • linksus, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Sweet, Thats the Bee's Knees
  • wizzroom, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Does 'dark-colored' include black people? If so, I'd say that's a bit racist of them bees.
  • Dipster, on 07/17/2008, -0/+2Can we use the bees on those dang Goth kids too?
  • SpacePoet, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Believe it or not crows are becoming a serious problem. It is the degradation of our environment that leaves room for them to come in as scavengers and the also attack and kill many native species. Florida over the last 3 years has been completely inundated with crows and they have killed off many local birds.
  • ariez84, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Beads?
  •  

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