Honey bees' electric charge makes them easy prey for spiders

Scientists have found that tiny electrical charges that build up as bees fly attract spider silk, making them more likely to be snared in a web.

The researchers claim electrostatic charge created by the fiction of the bee’s wings in the air is enough to deform the web and draw it closer to the insect.

“Insects can easily acquire electrostatic charge by walking over charged surfaces or by flying in an airstream of charged particles,” said Dr Victor Manuel Ortega-Jimenez, a research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.