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Date: | Thu, 15 Apr 2021 21:00:11 -0400 |
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Let's get back to the essential point (made before we wandered far off course into such basic errors as using the term "Orwellian" to describe insects, misinterpreting both English Literature and basic insect behavior)...
> do bees really care beyond the short period of the invasion and the consequences of smoking?
>> And are bees capable of 'caring'?
Bees certainly react to any disturbance, some more promptly and with greater defensiveness than others, but the defensive reaction only applies to the defense of the hive, as a forager in the field senses that she has nothing worth defending, neither brood nor stores.
But is this defensive reaction to a disturbance "caring" about the brood or the stores? I would say "no", as the bees will sacrifice brood to the cold every time if forced into a cluster by a cold snap in spring, there are never any heroic efforts to "save" brood outside the cluster formed in blind unquestioning obedience to mere temperature changes.
This single example seems to highlight the difference between simple stimulus/response, and abstract concept comprehension that might allow a bee to "care" about the implications of a disturbance, and react more tactically.
We beekeepers use all kinds of informal shorthand terms that reek of anthropomorphism when we talk about our bees, but I doubt these errors carry over into our thinking very far.
That said, my wife persists in sometimes singing to the bees when she works a hive, even though she knows that they do not hear well in the soprano vocal range. I think its adorable.
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