Images: Roman Horni/Wikimedia Commons / Callin Switzer

This Australian Bee Is More Metal Than You, Can Headbang 350 Times A Second

Research conducted partly by The University Of Adelaide has revealed the heavy metal secret of an Australian bee which uses some ridiculously fast headbanging during pollination. The bee in question can headbang up to 350 times a second, and is very, very metal.

Slow-motion footage has emerged (below) of the native blue-banded bee headbanging flowers with all its might, supposedly in order to help release pollen into the air, and not because it’s listening to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

RMIT researcher Dr Sridhar Ravi and his Harvard colleague Callin Switzer say it’s the first time the phenomenon has been observed.

“We were absolutely surprised. We were so buried in the science of it, we never thought about something like this. This is something totally new,” Dr Ravi says.

It’s hoped the discovery of the blue-banded bee’s headbanging prowess will lead to advances in crop pollination, better understanding muscular stress and even the development of miniature flying robots — with headbanging abilities, we assume.

Watch the blue-banded bee get brutal with a flower and put all human headbangers to shame, below — oh and maybe give it some background music of your choice?

Watch: Australia’s Headbanging Blue-Banded Bee In Slow-Motion

Watch: “Probably The fastest Headbanging You Will Ever See”

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