Phys.org) —The humble honeybee may not seem very intelligent at first sight, but recent research has shown that it possesses a surprising degree of sophistication that is not expected in an insect brain. Specifically, the honeybee can understand conceptual relationships such as "same/different" and "above/below" that rely on relationships between objects rather than simply the physical features of objects.
In primates, this ability to understand conceptual relationships is attributed to neuronal activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, honeybees don't have PFCs. Their brains are so small and lacking in complex brain structures that scientists have traditionally thought that the ability to understand conceptual relationships was beyond them.
“We're the only ones who make honey, pollinate flowers, and dress like this!” This famous line of Barry B. Benson from the Bee Movie helped us change everything we think about bees. The story’s morale proves that even the smallest and seemingly insignificant creature can make one heck of a difference this world. However, there’s another breakthrough discovery that scientists have discovered about bees. Far from its 2007 movie adaptation when those bees navigated like crazy, these social insects that live in hives actually navigate through a hit and miss kind of maneuvering. Bees can fly at about 15mph, roughly 24kph but they actually go from one flower to another, revisiting it many times, before moving on to the next.
In an article from the Huffington post, “a team of researchers from Mary Queen University in London outfitted tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) with miniscule harmonic radio sensors and plastic number tags. They trained the bees to feed on artificial flowers that offered a perch and a sugar solution in the center. The colony’s nest box, positioned in a large field on a British estate, was then situated near five of these artificial flowers. The flowers were arranged in a pentagon shape, with each one 50 meters from the next, which is many times the distance a bumblebee can see. That arrangement prevented the subjects from following each other or spotting the next flower. The “flowers” were watched by motion-sensing video cameras to capture each bee’s feeding. The researchers also chose to complete the experiment in October, when local flowers would have faded and not tempt the bees away from the experimental ones.”
The outcome of the study shows that the routes of the bees were initially longer and more tedious, travelling from one empty flower to another, even revisiting these flowers a couple of times, yet they learned to refine their travel and modify their routes after gaining the exposure and experience. In effect, these bees were able to reduce their flight distance compared to how they first began.
According to the same article, “The learning appeared to be primarily through trial and error. “Each time a bee tried a new route it increased its probability of re-using the new route if it was shorter than the shortest route it had tried before. Otherwise, the new route was abandoned and another route was tested.”
Whether it’s a matter of heuristics or not, it just proves one point: Bee navigation is still complex because they are able to gain experience from flight, thereby decreasing their senseless time buzzing through the air. These findings may lead to a new cognitive laurel for these small social insects, something that we thought only larger-brained mammals are capable of.
Bees and their link with honey were the essential plot elements of the 2008 animated feature, Bee Movie, the first feature length movie which involved Jerry Seinfeld since the finale of the hit NBC sitcom, Seinfeld.
Telling the story of how a bee managed to sue human beings because of their consumption of honey, Bee Movie had been met with conflicting reviews upon its release, with some critics loathing it as others were just so-so and okay with it.
But critical acclaim and Hollywood box office hit ratings aside, Bee Movie did well in telling the essential roles bees have in the natural balance and ecologic cycle of nature, providing an in depth look at how much impact their making of honey has with the order of things. Bees kept as “pets”
Many beekeepers don’t really consider bees as “pets”, not in the sense over how one would keep a dog or a cat as a pet.
For one, it is practically impossible to keep one bee as a pet, given that bees are instinctively social insects. This means that if you intend to keep bees, you will have to setup a space where a colony can thrive, with worker bees, a queen bee and everything else a colony requires.
The nice thing about keeping a colony of bees is that you don’t have to “feed” them since they can find and make their own food. In fact, you could even have a share of the honey which bees make, just make sure that you leave enough for the colony to survive.
There’s also the thing about bees and their stings, and it pays to have some working knowledge over the aggression levels of bees, especially when talking about keeping a colony. Keeping bees may appear to be easy, but their upkeep can be challenging, especially when they are kept in urban areas.
All in all, though bees are fascinating creatures to keep as “pets”, they’re not exactly as easy as having a cat or dog around in the house.
In primates, this ability to understand conceptual relationships is attributed to neuronal activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, honeybees don't have PFCs. Their brains are so small and lacking in complex brain structures that scientists have traditionally thought that the ability to understand conceptual relationships was beyond them.
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