Turns out, it’s not just pollination that bees are great at — they ace the calculation game, too.When you picture smart animals, chances are bees don’t make the top of your list. Sure, we know they’re busy making honey and pollinating flowers, but solving math problems? That sounds like a stretch. Turns out, we may be seriously underestimating them.A new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, shows honeybees can really handle numbers. We’re not just talking about picking out patterns; they seem to actually understand quantity, and even the idea of zero. Their brains are smaller than a sesame seed, yet somehow, they crunch numbers better than some people think.For the bees, it’s not simply flying from flower to flower at random. They actually compare quantities, process numbers, and use that math ability to navigate their world. That’s wild. And for us, it just goes to show intelligence isn’t all about having a big brain.
What does the study say?
There’s been a back-and-forth among scientists about whether bees are “counting” or if they’re just picking out visual differences in the stuff we show them. Bees are superstars at spotting patterns. Some experts wondered if so-called counting experiments just showed that, nothing more.But the latest research changed things up. Instead of looking at the experiment like a human would, the researchers tried to see things from a bee’s vantage point. And even then, bees showed a knack for numbers.“There’s a debate about whether bees are really ‘counting’ or just reacting to visual patterns,” says neuroscientist Mirko Zanon from Italy’s University of Trento. “When we look at it from the bees’ perspective, it’s clear they’re sensitive to numbers.”
More evidence on bees’ intelligence
So, just how clever are these bees, anyway?Bees have been tested with cards showing different patterns. One 2018 study published in Science found that bees pick out more and less, bigger and smaller, and even seem to understand zero, something most human kids don’t grasp until preschool. Previous experiments had bees choose between symbols linked to numbers. When put to the test, bees nailed the practice runs about three-quarters of the time, and, under pressure, still did better than random guessing.In 2019, researchers set up an experiment where bees learned to link made-up symbols with numbers. First, they trained the bees to recognize which symbol matched which number. Later on, the bees got a card showing a certain number of shapes and had to pick the symbol that meant “this many.”During training, the bees nailed it about 75%-80% percent of the time. When it came to the real tests, their accuracy dropped a bit — around 60%-65%. But even then, they did way better than random guessing. That convinced scientists that bees could understand numbers.Still, a 2020 critique pointed out that the bees might just be matching patterns instead of actually counting. There was another problem: bee vision isn’t exactly sharp, so they may not have even seen all the details. The original research team admitted this was a fair concern and took another look at their results.Scarlett Howard, a zoologist at Monash University in Australia, explained, “We have to see things from the animal’s viewpoint when studying their intelligence, or we’ll end up underestimating or overestimating them. Animals see the world differently from us — it’s easy to forget that if we only use human standards.”Turns out, bee perception is pretty limited. They can pick up on broad shapes and simple patterns, but cards with lots of tiny details probably fly right over their heads. Earlier studies used detailed cards that humans can see clearly, but bees can’t. So maybe the bees were using simple cues instead of actually counting, essentially “cheating” the test.To get a clearer picture, researchers revisited their experiments. They used a mathematical model based on how well honeybees actually see, and re-examined all the images. Here’s what they found: in previous tests, pictures with more shapes also had more visual complexity, like extra edges and details.That naysayers even pushed back: maybe bees just picked the busier-looking card. But once you adjust for bee vision, that link falls apart. More objects don’t always mean more noticeable details to a bee.So, the classic shortcut, just choosing the card that looks busy, isn’t really an option for bees. That’s why the latest study took a new angle. Researchers ran the data through a model set to bee-level eyesight. It turns out, when you filter our fancy little patterns down to what a bee actually sees, those “visual clues” basically disappear; not every image with more objects looks busier to a bee.In those cases, bees were left with the real challenge: the numbers themselves, not just flashy details. So, the evidence stacks up that they genuinely notice and respond to number differences, something most animals (and some humans, honestly) struggle with.“It can be hard for us to picture what life looks like through a bee’s eyes,” says Howard, “but meeting them where they are is the key. Bees keep surprising us, whether it’s solving problems or just how they go about their day.”
