Irish Man Fails To Set New World Bee-Beard Record

An Irish man tried to break a world record Saturday by coaxing more than 350,000 bees to land on his body, but the bees just wouldn't settle. In nearly two hours, Philip McCabe, 59, got only 200,000 black bees — or 60 pounds of them — to cover him.

"We had bees flying around so much, we couldn't get them to land," McCabe said. He blamed it on the 63-degree Fahrenheit weather.

Had it been 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the bees would have been warm enough follow their docile queen bee, which McCabe had on his chin.

McCabe said his feet fell asleep after about two hours, forcing him to get rid of the swarm before he fell over.

Seven bees stung McCabe's arms as he jumped from the scale, but he said he is used to stings and they didn't bother him. He wore only underwear, a back brace and goggles.

A key challenge was remaining calm.

"If I was giving off a strong smell of aggression or anxiety, they'd sting me," McCabe said, adding that he stayed calm by thinking about his family and childhood. "I hadn't a fear in the world."

The current Guinness Record of 350,000 yellow bees on the body, or 87.5 pounds, set in California in 1998.

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit