Pollination by bees powers vast ecosystems, while honey is one of nature’s most beautiful compounds produced by bees. Bees are remarkable animals. However, it turns out that these insects are also brilliant. Despite having tiny brains, recent research reveals that bees grasp the mathematical principles of addition and subtraction.
Human Vs. Bees’ Brains Doing Maths
To tackle these math problems, short- and long-term memory are required. Thus, we employ working memory (short-term memory) to do the numerical values while undertaking the operation. And we use long-term memory to retain the rules for addition and subtraction.
Although the competence to do mathematical operations such as addition and subtraction is not easy, it is essential in human cultures. Evidence suggests that the Babylonians and Egyptians used mathematics circa 2000 BCE. The evidence would have been beneficial for counting livestock and calculating new numbers when animals were sold.
According to Nicola Davis of The Guardian, researchers created Y-shaped arithmetic mazes for the bees to navigate to assess their numeracy. Researchers utilized color to represent addition and subtraction. Hence, in the research, blue indicated adding 1, and yellow showed a lessening of 1. At the start of the maze, for instance, the insects would observe two blue squares. In the end, they were given an option.
The bees were treated with sugar solution for every correct answer if they flew to the proper response. If they came on squares corresponding to incorrect answers, they were forced to consume an unpleasant quinine solution.
Bee Training
Honeybees are the main site foragers, indicating that bees will return to an area if it provides an abundant food source. During tests, bees were given a high concentration of sugar water. Individual bees continued to produce to collect food for the hive.
When a bee picks a correct number in an arrangement, she is rewarded with sugar water. If she chooses incorrectly, she will receive a quinine solution with a bitter taste. This strategy trains individual bees in addition and subtraction over 4 to 7 hours. When the bee gets full, she returns to the hive, and the experiment is continued.