The Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Solega A Linguistic Perspective

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7.5.2.3 Foraging

Other aspects of honeybee lore, not touched upon by Aristotle , are also mentioned
by the Solega. Prominent among these is the fact that some bees can forage at night,
a phenomenon not reported for the genus Apis in the scientifi c literature until the
mid-1980s [ 224 ]. The following two extracts illustrate not only this ability of the
bees, but also the fact that they often forage over long distances (a few kilometers,
in this case).

Kammuri bareyalli je:na:de. Sa:gaḍe mara gummana guḍḍeli ade. Ashṭu du:radalli ade

adu. A:ga beḷakina ja:vã ṭaiminalli hejje:nu ella ḍama ḍama ḍama ḍama enduru. A:

hejje:nu yelli ade? Kammuri bareyalli ade, ashṭu du:rinda banda:de, kelsa ma:ḍa:ge,

kattaleliye.

There are bees on Kammuri rock. The sa:gaḍe tree ( Schleichera oleosa ) is to be found

on Owl Hill. It’s that far away! Around the time of sunrise all the hejje:nu fl y (to the tree),

going, “ ḍama ḍama ḍama ḍama! ” Where are those bees (from)? Kammuri rock, they come

from so far away, just to work, in the dark.

Speaker A: Je:nu innu ondu kelsa ma:ḍutte. Ba:ninalli moḍa ondu cu:ru ira ba:rdu.

tingaḷa biḷuka ira be:ku. Iruḷinalli tingaḷa biḷuka iddare kelsa ma:ḍutte

je: nu. Hejje:nu ma:ḍutte, tuḍuve uve ma:ḍutte.

Speaker B: A:ga e:va hu: uve ille, sa:ga:ḍe hu: ma:tra

Excursus 7.4: Terms for Stages of Comb Development

Once a swarm arrives at a new nest location, the workers start to build the fi rst

precursors of the future hive , which will ultimately contain all the food stores

( honey and pollen ) and brood cells (for rearing larvae), and give the colony a

substrate on which to rest. The very fi rst rudiments of comb are a dazzling

white, being constructed from newly-secreted wax, and untouched by any

impurities. As the comb grows, the appearance of the wax and the overall

structure changes. The Solega have terms that describe different stages (and

different parts) of the comb, depending on whether it is new or abandoned, or

8.1 The Nature of TEK

(h)a:le New comb

bella:ḷe Newly constructed (white) comb

u:ṭe Comb with less honey

eralu Brood comb

tale Upper part of comb, bearing honey

ra:ḍe Comb (general), or part of comb without honey

mudi Colony just arrived at new nest site

iṭṭu kodaṇi je: nu Comb with lots of pollen

ta:vilu Comb full of honey? drone comb?

7.5 Solega Knowledge of Bee Natural History