In a new study, scientists examined how important the practice of imitating the elderly is to honeybees.
Many young creatures learn by imitating older ones, and in a new study, scientists focused on learning how important this practice is to honeybees, writes Inverse.
It is known that a honeybee begins to dance when it returns to the hive after “hunting”, writing eights while shaking its abdomen – scientists know that this allows it to communicate with the rest of the bee. In this way, it tells others how far away the tastiest flowers are, a process scientists refer to as the “waggle dance.”
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Knowing this dance is a very important aspect of the social life of honey bees because it is necessary for communication with the colony and is a rite of passage for the young individuals. Worker bees grow up to become foragers, learning these ancient waggle dance moves from their older counterparts. But the researchers were interested in what would happen if the bees couldn’t watch and learn.
As a result, scientists from the University of California at San Diego decided to find out how important role models play in the learning of bees. During the study, they isolated the young bees so they could not interact with the older bees.
social learning
Humans are social beings, so we know the concept of social learning very well. In infancy we begin to babble by imitating our parents, in adolescence we learn about the social norms of our peers, and as adults we learn new skills at work or in social groups.
However, social learning is not unique to humans; Other species also experience this, such as chicks that learn to sing, fly, and feed from their parents. Previous studies have shown that this behavior is also common in honeybee colonies.
In one study that has yet to be peer-reviewed, scientists found that worker bees began watching dancers when they were about 8 days old. On the 12th day of their extremely short life, the bees perform their first waggle dance, in which they encode the information of how far the flower is.
The researchers also suggested that waving dances differ between different honeybee species and that genetics play a role. However, in the new study, the scientists wanted to understand whether genetics alone could be responsible for the dance, or if something else was at stake.
dance alone
During the study, the scientists created colonies of young honey bees of the same age, and not a single elder among them could teach them the waggle dance. The scientists then simply watched.
Scientists have discovered that the bees start to leave the hives when they grow up and actually try to dance when they return. However, compared with the control group, the movements of the “young hive” insects were “more erratic” and apparently contained incorrect distance encoding.
At the same time, scientists note that as bees mature, as soon as they begin to observe and imitate their peers, their performance improves significantly. The coding mistakes they made early in their lives became less noticeable over time, but they never completely disappeared.
The study’s authors note that the results of their experiments show that they “permanently altered the distance encoding” in these experimental colonies.
new polish
The scientists point out that the bees in experimental colonies actually create their own new unique dialect. The insects did their clumsy swaying dance, watching their peers, and eventually finding a way to communicate with each other. But scientists note that even as they get older, they can’t improve their skills.
The results of the study also show that bees learn much faster with the help of a role model. The experiment shows that in the control hive, bees learn the waggle dance faster and more accurately. The researchers also found that the bees coming out of this hive did not have the coding problems that bees from the younger hive had to overcome.
The researchers say they have now found evidence that animals transmit information critical to the survival of their species through communities and herds.
Previously Focus He wrote that scientists say that bees actually die after they die.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.