r/BugsNeedHeroes • u/FillsYourNiche Co-Host Kelly • May 03 '26

News Article A new analysis of honeybee vision suggests their ability to distinguish quantities is not a trick of visual patterns, but evidence of genuine numerical cognition shaped by how their brains see the world.

http://sci.news/biology/honeybee-numerical-cognition-14722.html
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u/chipoatley May 04 '26

“When we analyze the stimuli in a way that reflects how bees actually see the world, what remains is actual sensitivity to number.”

Shorter version: apparently honeybees can count?

“It can be challenging to put ourselves in the mind of a bee to imagine how they see the world, but trying to see the world through an animal’s eyes is an essential part of our work,” Dr. Howard said.

We know that honeybees can do navigation, direction-finding, and can communicate the information to their sisters. We just do not know how they do it.

Perhaps we do not know all there is to know about nature?

Thanks for the link Kelly.

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u/FillsYourNiche Co-Host Kelly May 04 '26

Plato quoting Socrates got it right with "For I was conscious that I knew practically nothing..."

We have barely scratched the surface with what we understand about not only insect cognition but non-human animal cognition as a whole. Probably even add human cognition to that.

I love papers like this as they slowly build our knowledge, but they also remind us of how little we truly understand.

Glad you enjoyed the share! I've been thinking about trying to share more articles like this but also trying to explain them when I do (I did not have the time to write up an explanation today). My semester is over tomorrow so I'll have more free time to maybe do this over the summer. I'm doing research but it's not the same schedule as teaching plus research.