Honeybee Democracy

Thomas D Seeley

Honeybees make decisions collectively and democratically. Every year, faced with the life-or-death problem of choosing and travelling to a new home, honeybees stake everything on a process that includes collective fact-finding, vigorous debate, and consensus building. As the author reveals, these incredible insects have much to teach us when it comes to collective wisdom and effective decision making.

This book brings together decades of Seeley's pioneering research to tell the amazing story of house hunting and democratic debate among the honeybees. In the late spring and early summer, as a bee colony becomes overcrowded, a third of the hive stays behind and rears a new queen, while a swarm of thousands departs with the old queen to produce a daughter colony. He describes how these bees evaluate potential nest sites, advertise their discoveries to one another, engage in open deliberation, choose a final site, and navigate together - as a swirling cloud of bees - to their new home. 280 pages.

Hardback £25.00 £21.99