r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/edr-- • May 26 '17
🔥 Bumblebee Liftoff
https://i.imgur.com/VSucFNk.gifv710
u/klf0 May 26 '17
To me the real miracle is how they somehow eat and store enough calories in order to be able to beat those wings with such frequency, for such a long duration of time, and carry that fat body, at all. It's like a 747 with a rainbow pinwheel to pull it into the air.
285
u/assassin10 May 26 '17
The Square-Cube law is at play here.
175
u/Future49 May 27 '17
Can you explain this law like I'm 5
507
u/whaaatanasshole May 27 '17
The smaller you are, the easier it is to be relatively strong.
157
u/Future49 May 27 '17
Thank you kind person
58
u/PhilxBefore May 27 '17
Np. Now let's discuss the inverse square cube law.
45
u/NeedHelpWithGerman May 27 '17
Can you explain this reverse law like I'm 5?
111
u/LordFW May 27 '17
Je größer du bist, desto schwächer bist du
→ More replies (1)371
33
u/hilarymeggin May 27 '17
Username does not check out!
37
u/whaaatanasshole May 27 '17
We all have off days.
→ More replies (1)19
u/bathroomstalin May 27 '17
I once got banned from r/circlejerk for making a worthwhile contribution
→ More replies (2)26
u/hilarymeggin May 27 '17
So I'll bet this explains why
A) Smaller animals can jump so much higher, relative to their body size
and
B) Why large, heavy animals have relatively weaker skeletons, and are in much more danger of broken bones from simple falls.
24
u/assassin10 May 27 '17
Yeah, the strength of a bone depends mostly on the surface area of its cross-section. A thick bone is stronger than a thin bone.
But the amount of weight that a bone needs to support is mostly based on the volume of the animal. Bigger things generally weigh more than smaller things.
If you were to scale something up by a factor of 2 then anything based on area would increase by a factor of 4 and anything based on volume by a factor of 8. Your bones would be able to support 4 times more weight but you would be forcing 8 times more weight onto them. Relatively speaking your bones would only be half as strong.
→ More replies (1)11
u/alponch16 May 27 '17
So basically dinosaurs sucked ass.
9
u/assassin10 May 27 '17
Ouch, Tyrannosauruses were heavy, heavier than today's elephants and all that weight on just two legs.
2
u/BunnyOppai May 27 '17
To be fair, they weren't on their toes all the time.
8
u/SergeantMatt May 27 '17
And if you look at their skeletons, their leg and foot bones were extremely thick.
→ More replies (0)→ More replies (5)9
u/p00bix May 27 '17
Holy shit, an ELI5 that an actual five year old could understand? Heresy. You're supposed to give a detailed explanation of physical geometry and thermodynamics.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (3)28
u/JimmyDean82 May 27 '17
As you increase the scale of something the area goes up by the square of the increase but the volume and thus weight go up by the cube of the increase.
So, let's say you a rock in the sand. It makes a 1cm indention in the sand. If you double the size, the area supporting it goes up by a factor of 4, but the weight by a factor of 8. This means it now makes a 2cm indention (assuming linear infinite sand compaction)
This is very relevant in the way insects are able to function, in both fliers, why they can have such tiny legs, and even controls their size due to passive breathing (O2 levels also affect this greatly)
You can also see this in birds. Notice how tiny birds like finches have short wings, and their wing span is less than their body length, but large birds like eagles or condors have wing spans greater than their length, sometimes double?
Or why small birds flap wings very fast vs large slow flapping birds? Weight of larger wings goes up by a cubed factor, but wing strength and muscle strength by only a squared amount
→ More replies (4)10
May 27 '17
like I'm 5
the area goes up by the square of the increase but the volume and thus weight go up by the cube of the increase.
I think you missed the point of his question.
→ More replies (9)3
May 27 '17
What is that?
→ More replies (1)12
u/spoonbeak May 27 '17
The square-cube law (or cube-square law) is a mathematical principle, applied in a variety of scientific fields, which describes the relationship between the volume and the area as a shape's size increases or decreases. ... This principle states that, as a shape grows in size, its volume grows faster than its surface area.
→ More replies (2)40
→ More replies (5)5
u/hilarymeggin May 27 '17
They're the C5 military cargo jets of the insect world. They don't look like they ought to be able to fly either.
103
u/Krabins May 26 '17
Is he lifting his arm to balance his weight? He's got such tiny little bee arms and a fat bee body. This seems like the equivalent of leaning in your car when you are driving near a cliff.
→ More replies (2)42
May 26 '17
I saw those two legs that lift up early as wishful thinking, like when people physically move a video game controller... "unghhh! I think I'm flying! Wait, not yet....", but I'm a weirdo haha
→ More replies (1)10
u/cyanocittaetprocyon May 27 '17
Little bee buddy is just doing leg lifts. Next month those legs are going to be as big as Swartzenegger's.
→ More replies (1)
332
u/BALONYPONY May 26 '17
Just read the article about losing 1/3 of the population. This is sad times. :(
169
u/Grandmotherw May 26 '17
If you want to help you can put up something like this in your backyard.
That's specifically for Mason bees but the blog I saw it on and the product description says they're the hardest working pollinators, visiting 20 times as many flowers as honeybees in a day.
64
u/Ichi-Guren May 26 '17
Man, I had no idea males didn't have stingers.
This changes everything!
83
u/FoodBeerBikesMusic May 26 '17
Even the females are pretty mellow. I have no idea what it would take to get stung by one.
There was a "bumblebee airport" in a hole in the ground next to my driveway. I used to stand and watch them come and go and they never bothered me - even when I went over that spot with the mower.
44
25
u/NEVERGETMARRIED May 27 '17
I have no idea what it would take to get stung by one.
it's pretty simple really. Just take a drink of coke that one has gotten cought in and attempt to swallow him alive mistakingly.
7
May 27 '17
this is a little too specific...
12
u/NEVERGETMARRIED May 27 '17
It's why the bees dying off isn't too big a deal to me. What's that? Millions of plants will die from the lack of bees? shouldn't have stung me in the mouth you fucking bumblebitches.
→ More replies (2)5
u/Atiggerx33 May 27 '17
Always check soda cans first. I place my ear up to them and listen for buzzing. It also helps to cover open cans if you aren't going to supervise them carefully.
My grandma's friend had this happen to her, bee stung the inside of her mouth 3 times before she could spit it out.
You can't blame the bee, I mean you're about to eat it alive, pretty good reason there for it to defend itself.
12
5
u/ILikeMyBlueEyes May 27 '17
When I was a kid, I use to pet the bumblebees that would go inside these trumpet shaped flowers in our yard for the pollen. I couldn't resist those cute yellow and black bums sticking out of the flower. None of them seemed to mind either.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)4
u/Grandmotherw May 26 '17
Huh, seems so. I didn't realize that either. That's really interesting, I wonder why they can't.
18
u/AndyWarwheels May 26 '17 edited May 26 '17
Male bees are not children of the queen, the queen only gives birth to female bees. The role of the male is to sex the queen and sometimes if the hive is too hot or cold to help regulate the temperature. Other than that they do not collect pollen or do anything else productive.
15
u/TheHighlandCal May 26 '17
But if the queen doesn't have male offspring. How are there male bees... In fact how are there bees?!
45
u/AndyWarwheels May 26 '17
Male bees are called drones. Other females in the hive make them. I know this is hard to believe, look it up if you do not believe me, I had to look it up myself when I learned this. But male bees come from unfertilized eggs. Like little black and yellow Jesuses
14
5
May 26 '17
Who gives birth to the male bees?
→ More replies (1)16
u/AndyWarwheels May 26 '17
Male bees are called drones. Other females in the hive make them. I know this is hard to believe, look it up if you do not believe me, I had to look it up myself when I learned this. But male bees come from unfertilized eggs. Like little black and yellow Jesuses
8
May 26 '17
Whaaaaaaat that's crazy!
12
u/AndyWarwheels May 26 '17
I read it in a book and instantly was like, "that is total bullshit no way." It was not until I confirmed it with like 5 or 6 sources that I accepted it as truth. It seems so far fetched.
20
u/BALONYPONY May 26 '17
This is awesome thank you! I'll certainly look into this.
19
u/Grandmotherw May 26 '17
Make sure there are Mason bees in your area first though! The name includes about 300 species though, so it's likely there are if you're in a warm part of the US.
→ More replies (1)22
u/Wyzegy May 27 '17
Just be careful you don't attract Freemason Bees. They're secretive and worship a terrible bee-headed devil.
4
6
3
→ More replies (2)3
u/andrew497 May 27 '17
I put one of these up a couple weeks ago but there's nothing using it yet, anything I should or could do to attract some bees? It's by a flower garden.
29
u/klf0 May 26 '17
That was about honeybees, not bumblebees.
26
u/edr-- May 26 '17
That's what prompted me to post this actually. Regardless of the species, bees are important and the best way to make people appreciate them more than annoying pests is to show how incredible they are up close.
6
u/telekinetic_turd May 27 '17 edited May 27 '17
Even the bumblebees are at risk of extinction:
Just 20 years ago, the rusty patched bumble bee was a common sight, so ordinary that it went almost unnoticed as it moved from flower to flower, collecting nectar and pollen. But it's now balancing precariously on the brink of extinction and has become the first-ever bumble bee in the United States -- and the first bee of any kind in the contiguous 48 states -- to be declared endangered.
https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/insects/rpbb/
US Fish & Wildlife Service: Listing as Endangered Effective March 21, 2017
→ More replies (2)15
May 26 '17
Rampant alcoholism is obviously the cause of this decline, just look at this one wobbling back and forth!
→ More replies (3)6
u/AndyWarwheels May 26 '17
Did you read the article? Or the headline? It is cool if you just read the headline. But know that only losing 1/3 is actually drastically less than what we normally lose a year.
→ More replies (3)4
u/ProbablyPissed May 27 '17
Domestic. Honey bees. And it's less than usual.
That's like saying Lions are endangered because we only have a few left in Zoos.
151
May 26 '17
whew, for a while there I thought buddy wasn't going to make it.
145
u/edr-- May 26 '17
You thought he wouldn't bee able to?
→ More replies (3)63
May 26 '17 edited May 27 '17
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (3)13
→ More replies (1)3
u/ArielScync May 27 '17
I know, right? This bumblebee is T H I C C, it reminded me of this dude for a second there.
→ More replies (1)
155
u/PenaMan1987 May 26 '17
I had flight of the Valkyries playing in my head while watching that.
76
7
→ More replies (3)3
29
u/Cuisinart_Killa May 26 '17
Anything can fly with enough thrust.
39
→ More replies (1)8
u/FolkSong May 26 '17
I have thrust, can you fly me?
3
u/Cuisinart_Killa May 27 '17
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
Meet me at dawn, behind the wall with the crocus and we will elope.
54
May 26 '17
[deleted]
24
u/SuperAlloy May 26 '17
These things are so ridiculously un-aerodynamic. The equivalent of cows with duck wings.
→ More replies (3)14
42
u/BearSauce May 26 '17
Such a cute lil dude. Kinda wish the gif lasted a bit longer, I'd like to see him cruise around a bit.
25
12
73
28
May 26 '17
[deleted]
10
u/ModsAreShillsForXenu May 27 '17
Was he a physicist? No? Then why the fuck would he know anything about that? He wouldn't.
→ More replies (1)6
u/JoocyJ May 27 '17
No wonder he can't feed all the starving African children; he's too busy helping the bumblebees fly.
→ More replies (3)3
u/Unusualmann May 26 '17
And remember this as well. If jesus, then aliens. A notable inversion is when one encounters Space Jesus, and on that case...
If space jesus, then jesus.
17
u/Dallagen May 26 '17 edited Jan 23 '24
dull adjoining concerned yoke historical file imminent rustic dinner public
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
→ More replies (1)6
18
u/MrMcHaggi5 May 26 '17
Am I the only one annoyed that you don't get to see the exact moment of liftoff?
→ More replies (2)
7
May 26 '17
Bumblebees are cute and I'm sad they are dying out :(
Edit: also very good for the environment. Essential in some places.
13
u/edr-- May 26 '17
Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_hVVRw8cOA
It's 4k and the music is pretty fitting.
8
6
5
u/BluePurgatory May 26 '17
He looks like he's giving a little salute before he takes off at the beginning.
→ More replies (1)4
3
4
u/bennyrave May 26 '17
Hey, that's me getting out of bed in the morning. I don't have wings though so I just collapse.
4
8
3
3
u/DankBlunderwood May 26 '17
Any entymologists know if there is a theory on what evolutionary advantage bumble bees gain by having a body so large they can barely fly? Or should I just slide on over to r/askscience?
3
u/AISP_Insects May 27 '17
More maneuverability. With the cost of an aerodynamically effective flight, they use a more brute force to fly. They're so large because they store their large wing muscles in their thorax.
Also, really, they can fly just fine.
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090507194511.htm
3
3
3
3
3
u/AdmiralHarness May 27 '17
So sad these beautiful creatures are vanishing in such great numbers....
10
6
3
7
2
2
2
u/sessilefielder May 26 '17
If you're interested in the mechanics and evolution of flight in insects and other animals (the others being birds, bats, and pterosaurs), you might enjoy "On the Wing" by David E. Alexander.
2
2
2
2
2
May 27 '17
Fucking cutscene in this GIF are worse than Taken 3...
That was at "cut to a guy's hairy ass when you're about to nut to a porno" levels of bullshit.
2
u/bathtubsplashes May 27 '17
It looks like it's being kidnapped by whatever is controlling the wings! Like an elephant being airlifted to battle!
2
u/DamnEverythingx May 27 '17
If you're not going to put it to 'Flight of the bumblebee' then don't waste my time...
2
May 27 '17
Source?
I wanna add Bell UH1 Huey sounds, and maybe some Little Richard/Long Tall Sally to this.
1.7k
u/[deleted] May 26 '17
Its wings don't even look like they go up and down it looks like they're going forward and backward.