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{{Short description|Bees or wasps trained to detect dangerous substances}}
[[File:Honeybee-27527-1.jpg|thumb|The Italian bee has been used for pollination for over 150 years.]]
'''Sniffer bees''' or '''sniffer wasps''' are [[insect]]s in the [[order (biology)|order]] [[Hymenoptera]] that can be trained to perform a variety of tasks to detect substances such as [[explosive material]]s or [[illegal drug trade|illegal drugs]], as well as some human and plant [[disease]]s.
==Intelligence==
[[Ethology|Ethologist]] [[Karl von Frisch]] dedicated much of his career to the study of the sensory perceptions of the [[honey bee]] and was one of the first people to translate the meaning of the [[waggle dance]].<ref>J.R. Riley, U. Greggers, A.D. Smith, D.R. Reynolds, and R. Menzel (12 May 2005) "Letters to Nature: The flight paths of honeybees recruited by the waggle dance," ''Nature'', vol. 435, pages 205-207.</ref> His studies show that bees can count to five and have the capacity to be trained to visit specific feeding stations at certain times of day.<ref name="Halter">Halter, Reese. [https://web.archive.org/web/20101104014101/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8104213/Bees-mans-best-friend-provider-and-protector.html Bees: man's best friend, provider and protector]. 2 November 2010. Accessed 6 October 2011.</ref>
{{see|Bee learning and communication}}
==Odour detection==
Bees and wasps are trained using [[classical conditioning]], being exposed to a particular odour and then rewarded with a sugar solution.<ref name="Hodgson">Hodgson, Martin. [
Trained hymenopterans have been shown to successfully detect explosive materials including [[Trinitrotoluene|TNT]], [[Semtex]], and [[C-4 (explosive)|C-4]] as well as [[gunpowder]] and [[propellant]]s.<ref name="Hodgson" /><ref name="SD2">[
Researchers at the [[University of Georgia]] have built a device named the "Wasp Hound" which contains the [[parasitoid wasp|parasitic wasp]] species ''[[Microplitis croceipes]]''. The insects normally walk around the PVC pipe in which they are housed but begin to migrate towards the source of an odour when it is the one that they were trained to recognise. These movements are tracked by a computer, with small cameras inside the device sending images for processing. Within 30 seconds of the wasps beginning to congregate near an odour source an alarm is sounded.<ref name="Appel">Appel, Adrianne. [https://web.archive.org/web/20051101085516/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1027_051027_bombsniffwasps_2.html Drug-Sniffing Wasps May Sting Crooks]. ''[[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]]''. 27 October 2005. Accessed 6 October 2011.</ref>
==References==
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==External links==
*[
*[http://maic.jmu.edu/JOURNAL/7.3/focus/bromenshenk/bromenshenk.htm Can Honey Bees Assist in Area Reduction and Landmine Detection?]. December 2003.
*[
*[http://www.3news.co.nz/Bees-help-in-the-battle-against-tuberculosis/tabid/1160/articleID/230861/Default.aspx Bees help in the battle against tuberculosis], 3 News. 27 October 2011.
[[Category:Animal training]]
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