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Date: | Thu, 14 Dec 2023 13:10:34 -0500 |
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> 'Bumblebees acquire alternative puzzle-box solutions via social learning'
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Yes, these tasks appear complex, but making multiple tries at "getting at
nectar" is a well-known instinctive goal, and bees have long overcome
barriers to easy grocery access.
See https://www.beeculture.com/flower-power/ for multiple examples.
See also:
https://www.honeybeesuite.com/nectar-grubbing-honey-bees-piercing-flowers/
(Excellent photos in the above)
But recent climate shifts have presented bees with 2nd-bloom blossoms not
yet open as 1st blooms are faded before the bee colonies are built up to
forage in strength, so the tactic of foraging is modified to include
chewing leaves, which would seem to be the best current evidence in support
of bees "learning a new skill", as leaf-chewing was not among the documented
habits known. "Bumble bees damage plant leaves and accelerate flower
production when pollen is scarce". Science, 368(6493) (2020) is attached.
But have the bees actually "learned a new skill", or are they employing
skills they already (instinctively) have, and we did not observe? This is
the annoying part of why biology and the other observational sciences will
never mature into "hard science", as one is limited to what one can
"observe", and it is hard to set up a true single-variable test methodology
with living creatures.
I'm still not buying it.
I've labored over coding too many ALU microcode sets to be optimistic.
Numbers of neurons matter. Memory capacity matters. Computation is limited
by both. Bees are very limited by brain size alone, so any claims that they
are going beyond instinct are going to need some pretty extraordinary poof.
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