We all know these busy insects are good for crops and biodiversity, but proof is emerging that they are also clever, sentient and unique beings
“Our work and that of other labs has shown that. That they can count, recognise images of human faces and learn simple tool use and abstract concepts.”
In the counting experiment, the bees were trained to fly past three identical landmarks to a food source. “After they had reliably flown there, we either increased the number of landmarks over the same distance or decreased it.” When landmarks were spaced closer together, the bees tended to land earlier than before and vice versa when the landmarks were placed further apart. “So they were using the number of landmarks to say: ah ha, I’ve flown far enough, this is a good place to land.
He began to realise some individual bees were more curious and confident than others. “You also find the odd ‘genius bee’ that does something better than all the other individuals of a colony, or indeed all the other bees we’ve tested..”Lars Chittka This reveals not only that a bee has “intentionality” or an awareness of what the desirable outcome of her actions is, but that there is “a form of thought” inside the bee’s head. “It’s an internal modelling of ‘how will I get to the desired outcome?’, rather than just trying it out.”when they landed on a flower. Afterwards, “their whole demeanour changed. They became, overall, very hesitant to land on flowers, and inspected every one extensively before deciding to land on it.
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