Dogs are well-known for being able to sniff out deadly explosives but they could have a rival in the future – honeybees.
Researchers say the insects have a perfect sense of smell that can detect the odor and they may be used to help find unexploded landmines in Croatia. The sugar-craving bees are being trained to identify their food by using the scent of TNT (trinitrotoluene), a powerful explosives mix.
Professor Nikola Kezic and his students set up several feeding points inside a tent, with only a few containing TNT particles. The method of authenticating the scent of explosives with the food they eat appears to work. The bees gather mainly at the pots containing a sugar solution mixed with TNT, and not the ones that have a different smell.
Prof Kezic, who leads part of the mine detection operation Tirimisu, said he concluded that bees can clearly detect the explosives.
I – Word Understanding
Sniff out – to recognize or detect by smelling
Landmines – a bomb that is buried in the ground
Authenticating – to prove that something is real or true
II – Have your say
1.The bee is the only insect that produces food eaten by man. Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life.
2.Buried land mines can remain active for over 50 years. Mines maim and kill tens of thousands of people each year, most of them women and children.
