Do all bee species speak the same language? I have bumblebees nesting under my roof, and wonder if the other bees in my garden can interpret the bumblebees’ signals about nectar sources?
Mike Follows
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, UK
Advertisement
No. Bees do not share a universal language, although they are surprisingly good at picking up clues from other species.
Bumblebees are social insects. A successful forager can encourage others to look for food, and floral scents she carries back provide clues about what to seek.
In contrast, on returning from a rich source of nectar or pollen, a honeybee scout performs a waggle dance that communicates its direction and distance.
The dance is also a sales pitch. The scout shares samples of nectar and advertises better sources more enthusiastically. Think Dragons’ Den or Shark Tank, with rival scouts pitching opportunities and the colony investing its workforce in the best.
These dances take place in the darkness of the hive. Even if a bumblebee could observe one, there is no evidence that she could interpret the directions.
Think Dragons’ Den or Shark Tank, with rival scouts pitching opportunities and the colony investing its workforce in the best
But bees can eavesdrop in other ways. Bee cognition researchers Erika Dawson and Lars Chittka found that bumblebees could learn that a honeybee sitting on a flower was a sign of a reward. To them, a honeybee was as useful a signpost as another bumblebee. Whether this happens in the wild remains unclear, although some stingless bees use other bee species to help locate food.
Bees also leave chemical footprints on flowers. Bumblebees and honeybees can detect scent marks left by other species and use them to avoid recently depleted flowers.
Flowers provide clues of their own. Many have nectar guides – markings rather like the approach lights and runway markings at an airfield – directing bees towards their reward. Some are visible only in ultraviolet.
There are electrical clues, too. Flying bees tend to be positively charged and flowers negatively charged. When a bee lands, charge is transferred and the flower becomes less negatively charged. Bumblebees can detect the change and assess whether a flower has recently been visited.
So, bees may not speak the same language. But they can watch one another, read the same signs and follow the chemical and electrical footprints of previous visitors.
Gill Nicholls
Crackington Haven, Cornwall, UK
I am no expert, I’ve just been fascinated since childhood with insects. But my understanding is that the UK’s native Apis mellifera mellifera (European dark bee) doesn’t need to return to her sisters and tell them where food could be found; the temperate land was full of flowers. Same for the UK’s bumblebees and, of course, its many solitary bees.
The modern honeybee is largely hybrid, with arid land ancestry. She has kept her ancient skill born of food scarcity.
To answer this question – or ask a new one – email lastword@newscientist.com.
Questions should be scientific enquiries about everyday phenomena, and both questions and answers should be concise. We reserve the right to edit items for clarity and style. Please include a postal address, daytime telephone number and email address.
The use of AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude) to write either questions or answers is forbidden, and any submissions found to have been written using AI tools will be withdrawn.
