Words from the Hive: Bees know nothing, which makes them smart

by Christine Hrenya, Ph.D. Engineering 
What the honeybees are up to…
Not much is new in the Bozeman hive during December compared to November. Roughly 20,000 worker bees are clustered around the queen to keep her warm. The colder the weather, the tighter the cluster. The bees continue to consume honey, which they convert to heat via shaking – i.e., their winter workout. Think of going to the gym on a cold winter day – it stays pretty warm because the people working out are “burning” calories and generating heat. Of course a gym can also take on an unpleasant odor, but since honeybees do not sweat, the hive has no such issue.
Speaking of not much, or more specifically nothing, bees understand this concept. Research published in Science earlier this year demonstrated that honeybees understand zero. The researchers trained bees to go to cards with a smaller number of triangles by rewarding them with sugar water. When they introduced blank cards, the bees preferentially went to those cards for a reward. And it was not just the novelty of a new card that attracted them, since bees trained to choose higher numbers preferentially avoided the blank card.
So just how smart does knowing nothing make bees, you ask? As it turns out, it is no small feat. Previously, only primates, dolphins, and parrots – the intelligentsia of the animal world – were thought to understand zero. For humans, this concept is typically grasped after preschool. Think of a child counting: one, two, three, but no zero at the start! So knowing zero is pretty impressive for a bee brain of about 1 million neurons, especially compared to the human brain of 100 billion neurons.
What the beekeepers are up to…
Gifting their honey to family and friends. Selling their wares – honey, beeswax candles, etc. – at holiday markets.
What the non-beekeepers can do…
Support the local bees and beekeepers – give the gift of local honey and other honeybee products this holiday season!