The Split Brain of Honey Bees
Honey bees may have only a fraction of our neurons—just under a million
versus our tens of billions—but our brains aren't so different. Take
sidedness. The human brain is divided into right and left sides—our
right brain controls the left side of our body and vice versa. New
research reveals
that something similar happens in bees. When scientists removed the
right or left antenna of honey bees, those insects with intact right
antennae more
quickly recognized bees from the same hive, stuck out their tongues
(showing willingness to feed), and fended off invaders. Bees with just
their left
antennae took longer to recognize bees, didn't want to feed, and mistook
familiar bees for foreign ones. This suggests, the team concludes today
in Scientific Reports, that bee brains have a sidedness just like ours do. The researchers also
think that right antennae might control other bee behavior, like their sophisticated, mysterious "waggle dance" to indicate food. But there's no buzz for the left-antennaed.
on 27 June 2013
27 June 2013 | ENTOMOLOGY
