> Maybe a single bee does not have much brain power but I think
>it is important to regard the whole colony as a single individual
>especially in terms of brain power.
 
        Phil, a single bee can learn to navigate a maze in only six times
the length of time that it takes a rat to learn the same maze.  Considering
that the brain of the rat is several hundreds of times more massive than
that of the bee, I have to agree with Ted Fischer that the bee brain and bee
intelligence is a constant source of wonder for me.  On this same note,
although it is a matter of instinct, and not intelligence, I am constantly
amazed that a single bee performs, at different ages, ALL the various tasks
and associated behaviours that the hive requires.  When you add this
information to all the complicated sensory and response behaviour (including
some senses like magnetoreception which we lack) you just have to marvel
that it can all fit in that tiny brain.
 
>According to a strong philosophical tradition, only genuinely linguistic
>communication is intelligent...
 
Well we certainly do have a long tradition of absurdly considering humans to
be the "ultimate" creature and the standard by which to measure such things
as intelligence.  I suppose it makes it easier to exploit our fellow life
forms.  Now there have been several successful efforts to teach gorillas to
communicate linguisticly.  Does that mean they were not intelligent before?
I would suggest that our inability to understand the non linguistic
communication of other species is a sign of the limitations of OUR intelligence.
 
Regards, Stan