SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
How Bees Choose Home
from the Scientist
For honeybees, there's no place like home. And every year, they must find a new one. Now, a study publishing today (December 8) in Science suggests that the honeybee swarms use inhibitory signals when house-hunting, paralleling the human brain's decision-making process.
"It's just another lovely example of the amazing sophistication in the honeybee population," said University of Sussex apiculturist Francis Ratnieks, who was not involved in the study. It also shows a "commonality in the decision making processes between a brain and a swarm," he added.
Every spring, about two-thirds of the honeybee colony split off from the group to form a new swarm, but until they find a roomy, hollow tree to call home, the thousands of bees wait in a tree branch as a few hundred scouts explore new prospects, said mathematician Mary Myerscough of the University of Sydney in Australia, who was not involved in the study.
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