Honey bees have been described as exceptionally clever, well-organized, mutualistic, collaborative, busy, efficient – in short a perfect society. In The Dark Side of the Hive, authors Robin Moritz and Robin Crewe write about the life history of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, focusing on the “dark side of the hive” including cheating, robbery, worker inefficiency, and unfair reproduction strategies.
The authors had me hooked...There has been quite a bit of research into the dark and imperfect side of honey bees, but never before brought together into a single volume * Mark L. Winston, Morris J. Wosk, Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada * The authors have written a fascinating book thatcannot be described as light reading, but it is riveting and challenges many preconceptions of bees. The complexity of the honey bee world is revealed as even more fascinating than ever. * Stephen Fleming, Bee Craft * This book is a refreshing account of some of the more fascinating and occasionally maladaptive aspects of the biology of the honey bee * Mike Picker, Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa *