Dave writes:
Why then do we extrapolate what the bee 'sees' when we have no idea how it's brain processes the data it receives?


Why do we do it? Partly, because it's fun to imagine what a bee sees when going about her business. Partly, in order to arrange our apiaries to minimize drifting or to enable the queens to get back safely.

How we do it has more to do with observation than any intimate knowledge of brain functioning, although there are many scientists making amazing discoveries on that front, such as how bees perceive distance and speed and the correlation between these.

Anyone who has a pet learns in a sense to think like they do. I know that my dog does not think "it's not OK to go the carpet". He thinks "it's not OK to go on the carpet if they are watching me." Now, that sounds a little like some people I know!

So by watching bees and learning what they seem to notice, and what they pay no attention to, we get hints of how they see. They seem to pick out very small changes in the position of the hive, or its entrance. If I close up a crack they have been using for an entrance, they keep trying to get in at that spot for a long time.

On the other hand, they seem to be utterly confused by other changes. I have a white truck and at times big clouds of them hover around it as if they thought that because it was white, it might be their hive. (Just my impression, I know)

pb