Bug Banter by bugeyed Bernie

Ask the Inverter, 

Inverter counsel on insect's lives.

An open discussion about invertebrate life.

   Clothesline chat with a miner bee 

Dear bugeyed Bernie, 

"Am I anthropomorphizing? It looks downright intelligent."

                                                                    Sally Seeking Knowledge about Life

Dear Sally Seeking Knowledge about Life, 

There is, of course, a risk of anthropomorphizing as it is in our ancient history to want to relate to animals through our eyes of the world. Still, science informs us that bees and other insects have far more capabilities than scientists thought even twenty years ago. Even though we know some of their abilities, their senses are very different than ours, and their needs on how to perceive the world are different than ours. 

   Still, when I was taking photos of this alert animal, over twelve minutes, I could not help but think it was observing me and thinking - what -  about me? Since it stayed in place with me jostling about very close to it (within a foot) I must deduce it did not view me as an immediate threat. But aware it was. When I ducked under the clothesline to take a photo from the other end of its body, it turned to again face me. When I tried to get on one side of it, again it turned to face me. Though sometimes not immediately. 

   The more we can learn about what animals can sense, and how they sense inputs, I expect the more we will appreciate all life forms. I recently read how our bodies rely on not only bacteria but fungi as well. It seems even humans are not just a single entity but instead a boat of organisms or an ecological interdependent set of organisms.

   Some scientists believe that bees are sentient, and have feelings. As far as intelligence - I believe the bee is intelligent - if you measure intelligence by the ability to learn and adapt within one's perceived environment and within the senses that one's body entails. 

   Lars Chittka in "The Mind of a Bee" writes, "...in bees just as in humans, instincts interface seamlessly with memory and cognition. Instinctive predispositions promote learning ability, and intelligence behavior can emerge from evolved innate behavior."

   Perhaps wild bees are smarter than average! All humbling, and worthy of much more observation and discovery.  

                                                                                                   Bugeyed Bernie

                                                         What's your inverting question?

                                                  Write it on the comment section of VT Bug Eyed

                                       View more photos of this lovely creature on my iNaturalist post. 

View all of my latest LIFE observations on iNaturalist.