What is honey bee communication and do bees have a "language"? If one uses a narrow definition of language where it must be made of words or written symbols, then of course no creature but man has such a system for communication. But if one uses the looser conception that a language is whatever individuals use to get messages across, then we find that many creatures are communicating using various methods. * * * The "National Geographic" reports: The Navy's Special Clearance Team One from San Diego, California, comprises platoons of human divers, unmanned underwater vehicles and intensively trained bottlenose dolphins. Dolphins' unrivalled underwater sonar abilities, and great intelligence, make them uniquely suitable for locating mines in cluttered shallow-water environments where military electronic hardware is rendered virtually useless. In return for fish rewards, the dolphins use echolocation to search for mines on the seafloor. Upon detection of a possible mine, the animals notify their military handlers, who choose whether to send the animals back with an acoustic transponder. These transponders, which are carefully dropped nearby, can be used by human divers to locate and destroy the munitions. Dolphins have also been used to detect enemy swimmers and divers, and potentially, to attach markers. * * * Quite obviously communication is going on here. The Navy communicates to the animals what it wants them to do, and the animals in turn can communicate the results of their search. If one uses the definition of language that some information has been communicated, then the scope broadens considerably, to include all sorts of signals such as the territorial songs of birds and body language used by many different animals. The hypothetical nature of science is admitted by most broad minded individuals. One of the chief arguments against the theories of evolution is that the theories cannot be proved. No doubt given a few million years one could devise an experiment to verify evolution, but who has time for that? Even such an experiment would do nothing more than mimic what had already occurred, rather than "prove" anything. Scientists seek plausible explanations which stand only until better ones appear. And the role of consensus must not be overlooked. Of course, the majority is not always right, but neither is the lone voice crying out in the wilderness. The need to persuade a majority of the people is one of the hallmarks of democracy and is a chief defense against elitism and technocracy. * * * Donald R. Griffin writes in "Animal Minds" (2001): Wenner and Rosin insist that von Frisch's discoveries are suspect because they imply that bees are "capable of human-like communication (language)" or because "a hypothesis which claims human level 'language' for an insect upsets the very foundation of behavior, and biology in general." If we accept communication as evidence of conscious thinking, we must certainly grant consciousness to honeybees. Contrary to the widespread pessimistic opinion that the content of animal thinking is hopelessly inaccessible to scientific inquiry, the communicative signals used by many animals provide empirical data on the basis of which much can reasonably inferred about their subjective mental experiences. [note: Donald Griffin is an associate of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. He has been publishing about animal behavior since his groundbreaking book on bats came out in 1958. ] * * * submitted by Isis Glass Ann Arbor, MI :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::