Bees’ Fuzzy Bodies Help ThemDetect Electrical Charges From Flowers

Back in 2013, scientists discovered that bees can detect the electrical charges that flowers emit, helping them locate nearby food sources.
Mark Burnett/Wikimedia
Exactly how the bees were doing this, however, remained a mystery. Now, scientists have found that the hairs on bees’ fuzzy bodies move in response to the charges, which send nerve signals to bees’ brains that flowers are nearby. The finding is an important one: Scientists have long thought that only animals in marine or moist habitats could detect electric fields, since currents are carried through water. That bees can do this in dry air opens up the possibility that other insects might have the same ability. The research, conducted by scientists at the University of Bristol in the U.K., was published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.