How Bees Become Excellent Navigators Like First Human Pilots

Researchers looked into the navigation memory of honeybees, showing an excellent memory for search flights and locating linear landscapes.

Bees play a significant role in forests and ecosystems. They are known as one of the main pollinators that helps plants to grow and reproduce.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, bees are essential to humans and the earth, adding that they play a crucial role in biodiversity and food security.

Looking at bees would look like small species and fly within their area. However, research showed that honeybees have amazing memory and navigation skills.

The study results can be read in the Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. The research title is 'Generalization of navigation memory in honeybees.'

Excellent navigation skills

(Photo : by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
New research showed honeybees had an excellent navigation map and memory, tracking linear landscapes like roads. Read here.

The researchers explained that honeybees, like the first human pilots, showed remarkable skill in flying.

The report was also published on the Phys.org website. The study said that the first human pilots used to look into roads and railways as navigation guides when there was no available GPS.

According to the Frontiers in Behavioral Science study, the researchers looked for foraging bees from found colonies in five different areas to unveil how they search for flights.

In addition, the researchers observed 50 forager honeybees with a transponder that will be tested in familiar areas.

According to the study's author, Dr. Randolf Menzel explained that honeybees had navigation memories that were used in search flights for their hives.

As the researchers conducted the study, they noticed that honeybees managed to fly in exploratory loops in unexplored areas.

The unusual exploratory flights of bees showed a deeper reason for finding their possible way to hive. The report noted that bees looked for potential signs like water or irrigation channels.

The honeybees could compare their unexplored areas with their homes based on their navigation memory.

Robotic bees

Recently, Nature World News reported the possible contribution of robotic bees in healthy colonies and the environment.

According to the Phys.org report, the project of robotic bees could help optimize and stimulate egg laying, improving the bees' potential pollination.

In addition, the robotic bees would play a crucial role in caring for the queen, ensuring sufficient nutrition.

Using machine learning and AI, the researchers explained that the project would be helpful to monitor the queen in hives using micro cameras.

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The researchers also noted that bees could also suffer from possible declines due to habitat loss, climate change and the application of toxic insecticides and materials.

Meanwhile, the report added that one challenge is ensuring that bees inside the hive will not get distracted by robotic bees, especially if it is a foreign object.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) explained that bees help 75% of crops grow and reproduce worldwide.

The decline of the bee population could result in a significant environment for plants, animals, ecosystems, biodiversity and food security.

Related Article: How Robotic Bees Could Help Healthy Colonies, Environment

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