"The Mind Of A Bee" by Lars Chittka
Just finished reading "The Mind Of A Bee" by Lars Chittka, published by the Princeton University Press.
Lars Chittka, who is a full professor at Queen Mary, University of London, has produced a masterful book based on his decades of field and laboratory research into the sensory world of bees (honey bees, bumblebees), their intelligence, learning and instincts. Chittka and his graduate students are exploring the cutting edge of bee brains and their neurophysiology. We have lively stories of their own research as well as historical and modern bee researchers who made other key discoveries. Here, we learn than bees can count to four, successfully walk through mazes, find their way home based upon hidden (to us) polarization patterns in the sky, see ultraviolet patterns on flowers invisible to us, keep time and many other fascinating behaviors. He, along with his graduate students and post docs have also demonstrated that bumblebees use tools. That is, by watching hive mates foraging bees pulled at strings attached to plastic disks that concealed a well containing a sugar reward. Similarly, by using an artificial bee on a stick, they were able to train other bees to roll a ball. Even more impressively, Chittka has just demonstrated that bumblebees may engage in a simple form of play by rolling wooden balls even when they are not being rewarded.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Bee-Lars-...
Lars Chittka, who is a full professor at Queen Mary, University of London, has produced a masterful book based on his decades of field and laboratory research into the sensory world of bees (honey bees, bumblebees), their intelligence, learning and instincts. Chittka and his graduate students are exploring the cutting edge of bee brains and their neurophysiology. We have lively stories of their own research as well as historical and modern bee researchers who made other key discoveries. Here, we learn than bees can count to four, successfully walk through mazes, find their way home based upon hidden (to us) polarization patterns in the sky, see ultraviolet patterns on flowers invisible to us, keep time and many other fascinating behaviors. He, along with his graduate students and post docs have also demonstrated that bumblebees use tools. That is, by watching hive mates foraging bees pulled at strings attached to plastic disks that concealed a well containing a sugar reward. Similarly, by using an artificial bee on a stick, they were able to train other bees to roll a ball. Even more impressively, Chittka has just demonstrated that bumblebees may engage in a simple form of play by rolling wooden balls even when they are not being rewarded.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Bee-Lars-...
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