Self-organized defensive behavior in honeybees

We investigated the defensive behavior of honeybees under controlled experi mental conditions. During an attack on two identical targets, the spatial d istribution of stings varied as a function of the total number of stings, e vincing the classic "pitchfork bifurcation" phenomenon of nonlinear dynamic s. The experimental results support a model of defensive behavior based on a self-organizing mechanism. The model helps to explain several of the char acteristic features of the honeybee defensive response: (i) the ability of the colony to localize and fours its attack, (ii) the strong variability be tween different hives in the intensity of attack, as well as (iii) the vari ability observed within the same hive, and (iv) the ability of the colony t o amplify small differences between the targets.