"meat honey"
The vulture bee is sometimes said to produce a so-called “meat honey”, but this is a misnomer resulting from scientific uncertainty, due to historic confusion of multiple species, each with a slightly different method of processing.
In one detailed study of Trigona hypogea in Brazil, the vulture bees mixed sugary plant products with a proteinaceous paste from regurgitated meat, and let it mature to form a sweet substance that was used as food; however, the two resources were initially kept in separate “pots” in the colony, neither being true honey (i.e., not derived from nectar), but they were then mixed together.
In a different study of Trigona necrophaga in Panama, the bees gathered nectar and produced honey, and they also produced a glandular secretion, derived from carrion, partially metabolized, used as a protein source, and kept completely separate from the honey. In neither case were the bees mixing meat-based substances with floral-derived substances.
Vulture bees usually enter the carcass through the eyes. They will then root around inside gathering the meat suitable for their needs.
There needs to be metal band called Vulture Bees, this is too metal.
Not exactly what you meant, but the first thing that came to mind
https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Earth/The_Bees_Made_Honey_in_the_Lion’s_Skull/178274
On bed of mottled rocks Amid flowers cold as ice Pray the weak, the old, the poor And when the tiny one from Heaven comes Crawls inside the chosen skull And when the tiny one it summons the others To crawl inside the chosen skull They build their castles in the heads of kings Bring life to the empty halls They build their castles in the heads of kings And honey will flow once more Once more
Amorphis! Their lyricist does a great job adapting the Finnish spoken histories. ZERO idea if this is one of them, though it references the shores of Tuonela. I highly recommend the clean/acoustic version of My Kantele https://youtu.be/UufaC2TI7dg
In one detailed study of Trigona hypogea in Brazil, the vulture bees mixed sugary plant products with a proteinaceous paste from regurgitated meat, and let it mature to form a sweet substance that was used as food; however, the two resources were initially kept in separate “pots” in the colony, neither being true honey (i.e., not derived from nectar), but they were then mixed together.
So it’s not incorporated in the honey. They have a separate protein stache.
A protein stache would be part of a meat beard.
I’ll keep the typo up because of this <3
Fascinating. It’s worth mentioning that (normal) honey can be used to preserve meat, thanks to its antimicrobial and hydrophilic properties. I guess that’s what’s going on here too: they use a kind of nectar honey to keep the meat component from going off. That said, this kind of food preservation isn’t immune to botulism so do be careful if you try this.
Now I’m wondering when/how this behavior evolved. Did these guys come first, and honeybees figured out how to eat pollen as a protein source as an evolutionary step, the other way around, or separately at the same time from some parent species?
I just came into the comments to post that. Thank you!
My mudhoney cover band.
No it’s my Meat Puppets cover band
Every Good Boy Deserves Meat Honey
Superbuzz Meatmuff
Buzzing Barfmunchers
Using their extra-toothed mandible, they will slice and chew the flesh off, coating the meat in their acid-rich saliva before consumption. The bee will transport the chewed carrion back to the colony where it’s regurgitated into wax pots, different from the honey pots.
Here, the meat will be mixed with honey and left to mature over a period of 14 days. During this curing time, it will become a paste-like substance that is rich in free amino acids and sugars. This paste is fed to their young, who need it to grow.
So basically a potted meat but with sugar instead of fat. Apparently they also keep normal honey that’s separate from the meat honey. Bees are so fucking cool.
IRL Zerg home base
We require more Vespene gas
https://beeswiki.com/vulture-bees/
…graphic
As vulture bee honey is derived from animal flesh, it is not suitable for vegetarians.
Phew that’s good to know! Nearly gourged myself on some corpse honey
Honey produced by vulture bees is a pleasant tasting and sweet smelling honey-like liquid.
It’s strange that it doesn’t taste like rotten flesh.
I read it tastes a bit more like cheese/butter.
Thank you, this comment made me feel unwell
Because regular honey tastes just like pollen?
No it doesn’t. It would be strange. Regular honey is made from nectar.
No thanks, I’m good.
No good, I’m thanks, dad
What
Nature does depravity.
Humans: “Is it edible?”Have you ever thought about blue cheese？
“Let’s try drinking the milk from an animal”
“Oh, it’s kinda gross and solid ish now. Still tastes good though”
“Oh wait, it’s gone really mouldy. Let’s slap it on some chicken wings”
Animal cheese connoisseurs be like: Our food culture grew by one diarrhoea at a time.
While I would agree on the surface, it’s not really depravity. We’ve got to do away with rotting meat somehow. Hence why vultures are so important.
Still upvoted though.
I just wanted to use that word… The whole sentence is just a word game given that personifying environment into nature is common, but wrong.
People learning about mushrooms: This one tastes like beef, this one killed bob instantly, and that one made me see god for 2 weeks
Like is that at all surprising? Starvation was a leading cause of death through much of history and pre-history, of course folks start to eat and drink dubious things. Ever heard of folks sucking the eyes out of fish to get fresh water? That’s on the milder end of what our instincts will force us to do under the right circumstances.
From the entomologic side: this is so interesting, thanks for sharing.
From the Mothership RPG DM side: this is so useful, thanks for sharing.
This one probably needs a NSFW filter, for “I was eating” reasons 😅
NSFE
That hive looks like I’m not high enough level to fight whatever is in there.
I would not want the honey from Resident Evil anywhere near my breakfast.
Ok, as I understood it, there is “edible honey” that is really plant-based, and “carrion meat-based protein storage” that kind of works like pollen storage in honeybees nest. TBH, I find pollen more nutritional and tasty than honey. And I know that honey bees are opportunistic carnivores too. These things kind of come together in a story better left untold.
I’ve seen people turn bright red and itchy after eating pollen, presumably it’s a likely allergen?
It totally is! I’m allergic to several types of pollen, also I live in the middle of the forest and am a beekeeper. My stomach hurts when I eat that stuff. Nothing of this stops me; I also love Spring. I feel quite sick now, too (well, cold weather came back and it’s a bit easier than 2 days ago). Good that I have mild allergy, I’d be dead by now if I had it hard. When birch flowers unusually hard, I sometimes have a symptom that feels like how people describe asthma.
Maybe some day I’ll get desensibilized enough, after eating this stuff regularly. Maybe I’ll die trying.
My neighbor doctor - also a beekeeper - says that many people who perceive honey as slightly spicy actually get allergic reaction from traces of pollen in it. He also thinks my strategy of eating pollen to overcome allergy should eventually work; I think I just like the taste too much to stop.
The trick with pollen I’ve discovered is that as soon as it is extracted from the honeycomb, it starts quickly degrading; whenever it’s sold, it’s bleak tasteless flavorless powder, not even close to explosion of flavor that happens when you chew on a fresh blob right from the honeycomb (usually with the honeycomb, who cares, it’s edible too. Almost everything inside the nest is edible, apart form the frames and other human-made nonsense). Apparently you can get the stuff only from an actual beekeeper (or by raiding wild bees nest probably, I think it’s not a good idea though), and I only figured it out when I started keeping bees!
the thing is, eating the honey from the local area where you have allergies, helps your system build a tolerance to inflammation when encountering it.
i can only anecdotally claim “it helped me!” but it’s not like a universal allergy relief.
i would have thought you would have observed a difference to -something by now.
I guess it’s getting a bit easier by the year; but I mean, until it’s gone completely, I couldn’t really tell. I’m basing my “strategy” on same anecdotic knowledge you mentioned, although I’ve never seen it proven right or wrong in a methodical research; I don’t really care, it’s not that if I know it for certain anything will change, I’ll just keep living here and eat the stuff.
I went to look for a paper or other reputable source for my assertion, and to my surprise it is largely regarded as myth as the bees don’t consume the right vegetation to produce the right honey to counter things like tree pollen or grass.
What? I literally can see them collecting alder pollen in huge quantities, carrying it on their hind legs like cavalry pants and forming into highly nutritional tubes, it’s possible to trace them from tree to hive - well, it’s not that there is any other pollen source here now anyway. And when I collect honey, quite some amount of this stuff falls down into the tank, not mentioning cross contamination in “pollen is processed at the same facility” honey manufacturing business bees are running. At least that part of the story is certainly true, that gives some basis to disregarding the conclusions of the meta-research you found.
You have me dying to go out an try pollen, though I know for a fact I’m allergic already lol. Hay fever and spring allergies leave me a.mess but darn it if I don’t want to go an eat pollen now!
Mind you, as far as I understand, bees convert it a bit too, so it might be somewhat slightly less aggressive than just flying particles in the air or sniffing a flower. Kind of “allergic vaccine” if that mechanism works, which, again, I’m not certain about.
What do bees need pollen for? I thought bees just got bukkaked as an co-evolutionary repayment for the nectar they’re jacking?
It’s their protein source; honey is pretty much carbs-only, good in winter, when they just keep warm, but raising kids on that is not good. Besides, bees are wasps, and wasps are carnivores, they need protein and mostly eat pollen protein in summer if they can. Honeybees eat flesh too, including cannibalism, just less often than plant material - apparently, with organized labor veganism turned out to be more effective, at least for them. No morals behind it, pure business.
I think I saw that in Dead Space
Was about to say, this is some resident evil type shit
was just about to say this looks like doom demon hives
So busy with “could” didn’t worry with “should”
Alright. I would. Gimme the goo.
Or would I contract a prion from it?
Actually, that’s a really good point to which I really want to know the answer. We have to assume that, since it’s effectively fermented meat, the prion would survive, but maybe they’re really efficient at turning all of the protein into unbound amino acids?
