BEE colonies may often be held up as models of hard-work and efficiency.

But it turns out bees are lazy - just like the rest of us.

Bumblebees have been spotted for the first time "stealing" nectar from neighbouring nests following a study by experts at the University of Sussex.

The findings could have possible implications for understanding how diseases are spread.

Experts at the university tracked the tiny insects to investigate their lifespans.

But they were stunned to find one in eight flying to nearby nests to steal pollen and nectar stored there, rather than spending more energy seeking out flowers.

The University of Sussex’s Dr Ellen Rotheray used tiny radio transmitters to track 360 bees in colonies at three sites: near the University of Sussex, in the north east of the county and at Plumpton College.

During the two-month project, she found bees repeatedly leaving their colony, going into another nearby and buzzing back to their own, all within about a minute.

The evolution, behaviour and environment research fellow said: "I tracked 40 per colony and there were nine colonies. Fourteen per cent of these were recorded stealing from their neighbours.

"When I say stealing, that was the impression. The other thing they are known to do is to lay eggs in other colonies, but if they were doing that you would not expect the repetitive visiting that was seen."

Dr Rotheray said the behaviour had been observed before in honeybees but never in bumblebees.

She added it was not clear why the bumblebees were stealing from other colonies, but that it was a "risky" strategy because colonies were designed to defend themselves from intruders.

Dr Rotheray is developing a computer model of the movements of bumblebees and their colonies to help farmers manage the insects.

She said the stealing would potentially leave the neighbouring colony struggling.

She added that the behaviour may also lead to the spread of diseases.

She said: "What may be an issue is pathogen (an infectious agent) spread. It is thought that maybe pathogens are spread on flowers, but it is difficult to know."

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