In 1963, entomologists Herbert Heran and behaviorist Martin Lindauer noticed a strange thing: they detected the movement of a group of portable bees flying across a lake, but the insects only managed to do so if the water was covered with ripples. If the surface was smooth, the bees dropped sharply and dived into the water. This suggests that honey bees use visual supports to navigate in flight. A new study by scientists from the Universities ex-Marseille in France adds a group of nuances to the understanding of bee flying ventures
For the experiment, a rectangular tunnel of 220 cm was built in the form of mirrors at the top and bottom. When they were hidden, the bees simply flew on the opposite side to the bait with the same. When the researchers opened the top mirror, which doubled the height, the bees also more easily overcame the tunnel. No, when the floor became a mirror and the height at the top doubled, the crash began. After 40 cm, the flight altitude dropped sharply, and they crashed into the bottom. If both the top and the bottom became mirrors, which built a tunnel of infinite height, the bees refused to fly already after 8 cm.
This is probably on the open disorientation with which pilots are sometimes flown. When the Pilot is over the sea or natural gas, he does not imagine his speed, it is very difficult to maintain a constant altitude. That’s why aircraft sensors are needed – they are not sensitive to open illusions and do not hold the car at a constant temperature, even when the pilot has nothing to cling to visually.
Only here the bees do not have auxiliary devices. Even when the reader mirrors near the end of the tone, the steady flight at the beginning of the journey ended abruptly in a fall. The results are similar to the 1963 studies – bees exclude the influx of octina. When the ground does not give the insects the appropriate information, they react to attempts to find visual supports and eventually fall.
If the bees in the experiment had a field of view, then they would certainly be able to find other visual cues around. But usually, over a calm lake or in a closed tunnel, there is practically nothing left for insects to measure height. By the way, this same experiment on fruit flies, which showed that they do not need cues from the audience to adjust the height, so different types of insects have different mechanics. flight.
Source: Tech Cult
