There are so many things that make us think, “Bees are amazing!”
Beyond their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the colony, one of the things that truly impresses us is their remarkable social nature.
Sometimes, it seems to us that honeybees organize their collective lives far more efficiently than we humans do.
I wouldn’t say that makes them superior to humans. But you can’t help thinking, “How on earth do they manage to do all that?”
For example, honeybees are among a very small number of insects capable of learning, using tools, and passing what they have learned on to others.
In one study involving bees, researchers observed two bees working together to accomplish something neither could easily do alone: one bee opened a door and held it open while the other reached in to drink the nectar.
There are also cases in which a bee that has learned how to access a food source demonstrates the technique in front of other bees, effectively teaching them how to do it.
When we observe our own hives, we often see worker bees returning with pollen packed onto their hind legs, vigorously waggling their abdomens as they perform their famous figure-eight dance.
This is how they communicate the direction and distance of a source of nectar or pollen to their fellow bees.
It is also well known that decisions within a colony can emerge through a process rather like majority voting.
Take the choice of a new home during swarming, for example.
Scout bees that discover promising locations communicate their findings to other bees. Those bees, in turn, pass the information on to still others. This process continues until enough bees have agreed on one location for the colony to move there.
Just imagine the work involved in finding a suitable cavity with enough room for an entire colony.
The scout bees have to inspect hole after hole around the hive, one by one.
Doesn’t that sound like an almost mind-numbing task, just thinking about it?
Because of the name “queen bee,” people often imagine that she rules over the colony as its leader.
In reality, however, although she has one of the most important roles in the hive—laying eggs—she does not make the colony’s decisions or direct the activities of the other bees.
Even if we look only at the process of swarming that I mentioned earlier, there are so many questions:
When, and how, do they decide to start raising drones and new queens?
When, and how, do they begin the queen’s weight-loss program?
And when do they decide it is time to swarm and who actually leave the hive?
And so on.
Who on earth makes these decisions?
It certainly gives us plenty to wonder about.
When you think about it, honeybees have survived through millions of years of evolution. Colonies that were able to adapt to their environments survived and continued their species.
So perhaps there is very little in their instincts and behavior that is truly wasted.
We humans, on the other hand, are not creatures that simply devote ourselves unquestioningly to a collective purpose, each of us single-mindedly carrying out an assigned role.
I think our society is built by bringing together individuals with unique personalities. We are conscious of the fact that different values and opinions exist, and it is through that diversity that we move our world forward.
Still, I find it truly astonishing how honeybees, as a collective, quietly and steadily accomplish the great task of ensuring the survival of their species.
And they do all this without schools, churches, companies, or even after-school clubs.
“No school, no exams, nothing at all!” — Just like in the GeGeGe no Kitaro song!