According to Research Bees Can Move Balls
Arguably, the most futile and yet common question asked daily and across the globe is, if you were an animal, what animal would you be? Futile though it may be, we seem incapable of opting for the first animal that pops into our heads. Instead we pause for a considerable about of time, during which, we adopt a logical thought process. We analyse our likes, our dislikes, our qualities and our flaws, thus providing the information for our mental comparability chart. Until, finally, after an agonising wait, the questioner receives his/her answer (by this point, he/she has probably lost all interest).
My personal thought process in deciphering a response to this question was not an extensive one. If I was an animal I’d be a bear.
Why?
Because, like bears (especially the yellow ones who wear red t-shirts), I love honey.
Why?
Not only does honey, with its stickiness and natural sweetness, provide a tantalising experience for the taste buds but its list of health benefits is endless. It helps prevent cancer and heart disease, is anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, reduces throat irritation, heals wounds and burns, is a probiotic, and it moisturizes and nourishes the skin. I am not ashamed to say that, rather than spreading my honey on my toast, I have on more than one occasion spread it across my face. Take my advice, try it. It will undoubtedly be the best face mask that you’ve ever tasted.
And who do we have to thank for this sweet nectar, equal to that of the Gods’? The tiny, striped creature who has devoted its short life to extracting this liquid goodness- bees.
Like the honey it produces, the bee has an endless list of qualities, many of which are unknown to us naïve humans:
- Bees pollinate 75% of the 100 most globally-traded crops.
- It has been estimated that bees contribute £651 million to the UK economy a year.
- Each bee has 170 odorant receptors, which means they have one serious sense of smell.
- They are the Fred and Ginger’s of the insect world. When the worker bees return to their hive, they dance by moving in a figure-of-eight and waggling their bodies to indicate to their fellow bees the whereabouts of food.
- Ever wondered why a honeycomb doesn’t melt in hot weather? Wonder no more! Bees maintain a constant temperature of 35ºC in their hive by using their wings as fans and by collecting water, which they create a cooling mist from.
- To top it all off, recent research has concluded that bees have behavioural flexibility and the brain capacity to learn new skills.
Scientists at Queen Mary University of London made this conclusion after conducting an experiment that required a number of bees to manoeuvre a ball to a target area; a skill not necessary for their natural foraging routine.
The experiment was carried out in two parts. Firstly, several bees were presented with a platform, a circled area and a ball. A dummy bee was then used to demonstrate how to manoeuvre the ball to the circled area and subsequently retrieve a food reward. When it was their turn to complete the task, the onlooker bees were successful in doing so, and even proved to scientists that through repetition, they could improve their method and therefore their time.
The second part of this experiment involved scientists presenting the bees with the same set up, however, with an additional two balls of varying distances from the circled area. These bees were trained under one of three conditions. Some observed a previously trained bee move the furthest ball to the circled area, others witnessed the task being carried out by a magnet, and the third group were presented with the ball already placed in the target circle. All scenarios resulted in a food reward.
Conclusively, the bees that observed their previously trained ‘mate’ complete the task learned the skill of manoeuvrability more successfully than those who observed the other two demonstrations. Through repetition, these bees began to move the closest ball to the circled area instead of the furthest, and consequently obtained their reward at a quicker rate. This was a result of their own intuition and altogether proves the efficiency of bees and the wonderment of them.
“Bees are fascinating animals in terms of the behavioural and cognitive capacities that they have” (Professor Lars Chittka at Queen Mary University of London).
After reading this, I have no doubt that you are nodding your head in agreement. Bees are the epitome of ‘the bee’s knees’!
As an end and more serious note, bee decline, as a result of increasing pesticide usage and habitat destruction, has been a global worry for many years now. This worry continues to exist today as bees have proven essential to our flower and crop pollination, and subsequent food economy. Without them, not only will my honey addiction cease to be satisfied but we could witness a significant rise in the cost of fruit and vegetables, numbers of wildflowers could decline and food chains could be rocked.
The below video provides more information on this issue, perhaps not in the most conventional of ways, but effectively nevertheless. After all, what better way to gain knowledge than through the power of song?
With thanks to Naomi Gilad
