True Facts: Bees That Can Do Math!

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Thanks you:

Dr Lars Chittka, Queen Mary University of London

Dr Martin Giurfa, Sorbonne University

Dr Charles Abramson, Oklahoma State University

Dr Tom Seeley, Cornell University

Dr Julien Serres, Aix Marseille University: https://www.youtube.com/@julienserres

Dr Joanna Brebner, Queen Mary University of London

Dr Hiruni Samadi Galpayage Dona, Università di Trento

Dr Charles Walcott, Cornell University

Dr Constance Blary, University of Montpellier

Patrick Sainton

Ben Hoksch: https://www.youtube.com/@ephemeral4355

Institute of Mouvement Sciences - Etienne-Jules Marey (CNRS/Aix Marseille Université, UMR7287), France: https://ism.univ-amu.fr/en

Abramson CI, Dinges CW, Wells H. Operant Conditioning in Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.): The Cap Pushing Response. PLoS One. 2016 Sep 14;11(9):e0162347. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0162347.

Alem S, Perry CJ, Zhu X, Loukola OJ, Ingraham T, Søvik E, Chittka L. Associative Mechanisms Allow for Social Learning and Cultural Transmission of String Pulling in an Insect. PLoS Biol. 2016 Oct 4;14(10):e1002564. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002564. Erratum in: PLoS Biol. 2016 Dec 29;14 (12 ):e1002589.

Bortot M, Stancher G, Vallortigara G. Transfer from Number to Size Reveals Abstract Coding of Magnitude in Honeybees. iScience. 2020 May 22;23(5):101122. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101122.

Bridges, A.D., Royka, A., Wilson, T. et al. Bumblebees socially learn behaviour too complex to innovate alone. Nature 627, 572–578 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07126-4

Galpayage Dona, Hiruni Samadi. Cwyn Solvi, Amelia Kowalewska, Kaarle Mäkelä, HaDi MaBouDi, Lars Chittka,

Do bumble bees play?, Animal Behaviour, Volume 194, 2022, Pages 239-251, ISSN 0003-3472, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.08.013.

Giovanetti, Manuela & Aronne, Giovanna. (2013). Honey bee handling behaviour on the papilionate flower of Robinia pseudoacacia L. Arthropod-Plant Interactions. 7. 10.1007/s11829-012-9227-y.

Harald E. Esch, John E. Burns; Distance Estimation by Foraging Honeybees. J Exp Biol 1 January 1996; 199 (1): 155–162. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.199.1.155

Howard SR, Avarguès-Weber A, Garcia JE, Greentree AD, Dyer AG. Numerical cognition in honeybees enables addition and subtraction. Sci Adv. 2019 Feb 6;5(2):eaav0961. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aav0961.

Howard SR, Greentree J, Avarguès-Weber A, Garcia JE, Greentree AD and Dyer AG (2022) Numerosity Categorization by Parity in an Insect and Simple Neural Network. Front. Ecol. Evol. 10:805385. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2022.805385

Loukola OJ, Solvi C, Coscos L, Chittka L. Bumblebees show cognitive flexibility by improving on an observed complex behavior. Science. 2017 Feb 24;355(6327):833-836. doi: 10.1126/science.aag2360.

Muth F, Papaj DR, Leonard AS. Colour learning when foraging for nectar and pollen: bees learn two colours at once. Biol Lett. 2015 Sep;11(9):20150628. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0628. Erratum in: Biol Lett. 2015 Oct;11(10). pii: 20150841. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0841.

Nieder A. Honey bees zero in on the empty set. Science. 2018 Jun 8;360(6393):1069-1070. doi: 10.1126/science.aat8958.

Scholze, E., Pichler, H. and Heran, H. (1964). Zur Entfernungsschätzung der Bienen nach dem Kraftaufwand. Naturwissenschaften 51, 69–70. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00603471

Serres, J. R., Morice, A. H., Blary, C., Miot, R., Montagne, G., & Ruffier, F. (2022). Floor and ceiling mirror configurations to study altitude control in honeybees. Biology Letters, 18(3), 20210534.

Skorupski P, MaBouDi H, Galpayage Dona HS, Chittka L. Counting insects. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2017 Feb 19;373(1740):20160513. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0513.

Smith, D., Bernhardt, G., Raine, N. et al. Exploring miniature insect brains using micro-CT scanning techniques. Sci Rep 6, 21768 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21768