Ultimate swarms: Nature's most powerful secrets
Phil Byrne
30 August 2013
If you suffer from melissophobia - fear of bees - don't watch the first 15 minutes of Ultimate Swarms, which aired on BBC One this week.
In a scene reminiscent of the cult horror Candyman, Zoologist and explorer George McGavin talks to the camera absolutely covered in honey bees.
It's the big moment of a programme that celebrates some of nature's most powerful swarms. But it does more than that. McGavin reveals that in a world where more and more people are swarming to cities, groups working together are more likely to triumph.
Have you ever wondered why asking the audience is one of the best tactics on game shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? According to McGavin, the audience is right 90% of the time - compared to the experts who manage a success rate of just 65%.
Nature reinforces this. A swarm of wildebeest isn't fooled by the odd individual that tries to run in the wrong direction. A stray crazy guess doesn't harm the herd.
When honey bees dance to tell the colony where to find the best place to set up home, the bees dancing to the wrong tune are headbutted to stop them dancing. But let's not take that lesson literally. Not with my dancing inability.
McGavin goes on to show us how tiny Mayflies can bring cars and trains to a halt; how basing our motorways and roads on leaf-cutter ants - by reducing speed limits and preventing overtaking - could actually speed up overall journey times; and how swarms of Mexican free-tailed bats congregate in their thousands to insulate each other from the cold.
It's fascinating when nature shows us something so strange we couldn't have possibly imagined it. Or something devastatingly powerful.
But what I've realised most is how intelligent nature is - and how observing it better could help us on a quest for well-being for all. But we'll have to stop destroying it at the alarming rate we are, if we hope to learn from it and leave it intact for future generations to marvel at.
Friends of the Earth has some #BigIdeas on how to protect nature. See if you agree with us.
Phil Byrne, Publishing & New Media
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