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UM’s “Bee Whisperer” Tells of Honeybees’ Military Potential

By Alaina Abbott, 7-21-08

The U.S. Army is collaborating with honeybees, via Scott Debnam and other researchers working on the University of Montana Bee Project.

Known as the “bee whisperer,” Debnam spoke Monday at City Club Missoula forum at the Doubletree Hotel, enthusiastically conveying his love for bees and researchers’ growing understanding of them—even how they can assist the army in locating land mines and detecting poisons.

Debnam brought along a hive he keeps in his living room, which he called his substitute for an aquarium. With his window open at home, the bees are free to come and go.

“People always ask me if they can have honey. I say ‘No!’” Debnam said. “I don’t know if they deserve this honey.” He affectionately referred to the bees as “the girls.”

Debnam said people may forget about the importance of pollination, but they can understand the importance of saving lives. He animatedly described the use of honeybees to locate land mines.

Without disclosing any secrets, Debnam said it takes only two days to train a bee to find the mines whereas it takes a dog four years. Although he credited dogs with being best for land mine removal, he pointed out other advantages of using bees: they locate land mines at a faster rate and, weighing a fraction of a gram, they cannot set them off.

Montana State University engineers are also involved with the research. MSU developed light radar to record the location of the bees while in the field finding land mines. The radar only picks up the unique wing beat of the honeybee, so other organisms don’t interfere.

“The whole state of Montana is involved in the issue of removing land mines,” Debnam said.

The research has been successful so far. At an Army test site, bees found 98 percent of the land mines, and they even discovered a 45-year-old land mine that escaped detection by dogs, metal detectors and other technology.

However, after 10 months of preparations to go overseas to put the research to use, the Bush Administration, Donald Rumsfeld in particular, put the kibosh on the plan. So Debnam is holding out for the next administration.

With the Army’s concern for terrorist activity, they also asked Debnam if bees could detect poison in the air within 15 minutes. No problem.

“We discovered, quite by accident, that (the bees) sound different,” Debnam said. “They make this change within 30 seconds.”

Discussing the poison research, Debnam emphasized that he “will not kill bees.” Only a tiny amount of poison is used that bees can safely tolerate.

Colony Collapse Disorder’s strange effect on bees has alarmed Debnam. The result of CCD is the eventual disappearance of all the bees from the hive. Debnam told the audience about a combination of two viruses and the disease Nosema ceranae that might explain CCD. He was clear that the research is in the very early stages.

“Bees are very communal. If you lose bees, you will eventually lose the hive,” Debnam said. “They work in incredible harmony.”

And now bees appear to be cooperating with humans as well.

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