The mind of a bee

The mind of a bee

Lars Chittka, 1963-

Book - 2022

A rich and surprising exploration of the intelligence of bees Most of us are aware of the hive mind--the power of bees as an amazing collective. But do we know how uniquely intelligent bees are as individuals? In The Mind of a Bee, Lars Chittka draws from decades of research, including his own pioneering work, to argue that bees have remarkable cognitive abilities. He shows that they are profoundly smart, have distinct personalities, can recognize flowers and human faces, exhibit basic emotions, count, use simple tools, solve problems, and learn by observing others. They may even possess consciousness.Taking readers deep into the sensory world of bees, Chittka illustrates how bee brains are unparalleled in the animal kingdom in terms of how... much sophisticated material is packed into their tiny nervous systems. He looks at their innate behaviors and the ways their evolution as foragers may have contributed to their keen spatial memory. Chittka also examines the psychological differences between bees and the ethical dilemmas that arise in conservation and laboratory settings because bees feel and think. Throughout, he touches on the fascinating history behind the study of bee behavior.Exploring an insect whose sensory experiences rival those of humans, The Mind of a Bee reveals the singular abilities of some of the world's most incredible creatures.

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Subjects
Bees > Psychology.
Bees > Behavior.
Published
Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press 2022.
Language
English
Main Author
Lars Chittka, 1963- (-)
Physical Description
vii, 260 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographic references (pages 217-245) and index.
ISBN
9780691180472
  • Chapter 1. Introduction
  • Chapter 2. Seeing in Strange Colors
  • Chapter 3. The Alien Sensory World of Bees
  • Chapter 4. "It's Just Instinct"-or Is It?
  • Chapter 5. The Roots of Bee Intelligence and Communication
  • Chapter 6. Learning about Space
  • Chapter 7. Learning about Flowers
  • Chapter 8. From Social Learning to "Swarm Intelligence"
  • Chapter 9. The Brains Behind It All
  • Chapter 10. "Personality" Differences between Bees
  • Chapter 11. Do Bees Have Consciousness?
  • Chapter 12. Afterword
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes and Bibliography
  • Illustration Credits
  • Index
Review by Choice Review

Exploring the question of what it's like to be a bee, this book may remind readers of a murder mystery. True, it is about life and intelligence, not death, but Chittka (Queen Mary Univ. of London) expresses the background, sensory world, and the contrast between automatic instinct and variable learning that characterize the mystery genre. There is a build-up of information about communications, and learning about surrounding space and flowers and social learning across a group. Chittka provides data about the brains and personalities of bees, then in the denouement discusses what a bee mind might be--not known for sure--with added pieces of information suggesting that bees do have a mind, although it is probably not anything like that of humans. Throughout the discussion Chittka provides detail, including names and anecdotes about scientists and other investigators. Readers are reminded that studies of bees are both centuries old and swiftly advancing with the advent of modern technology, which allows researchers to do such things as track the foraging patterns of a single bee or find out which bumblebees are devoted foragers and which ones are lazy. This is both a "good read" and an eye-opening look into the behavior of animals we have lived near yet mostly taken for granted. Summing Up: Essential. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students and faculty. General readers. --Jennifer A. Mather, University of Lethbridge

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Chittka, a behavioral ecology professor at Queen Mary University of London, combines cutting-edge science with a rich historical perspective in this take on what it means to be a bee. His goal, which he accomplishes remarkably well, is to dispel the belief that an individual bee is nothing more than "a mindless cog" in a hive; instead, he argues, bees have "beautifully elaborate brains." He considers whether bees have individual personalities, experience consciousness, or dream­, and in each case, using experiments he and his coworkers have undertaken, explores the likelihood of answers in the affirmative. He demonstrates that bees can be trained to recognize faces, "have a visual processing speed five times faster than humans," are capable of learning certain tasks that prove they comprehend the concepts of "above" and "below" quicker than primates, and can learn to use tools. Throughout, Chittka offers evolutionary explanations for many of the behaviors he describes--insects, for example, "were pre-adapted for flower color-coding hundreds of millions of years before there were any flowers." The knowledge on offer here is as entertaining as it is edifying. Readers won't look at bees the same way again. (June)

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Review by Library Journal Review

A leading expert on bee psychology takes readers on a fascinating journey into the mind of man's best insect friend. Chittka (sensory and behavioral ecology, Queen Mary Univ., London) argues that bees, even with brains the size of a pinhead, are far from being "reflexive robots." His book examines bees' sensory world, their instinctual repertoire, and how it relates to learned behaviors. He also studies the evolutionary roots of bee intelligence, how they navigate the "flower supermarket," the possibility of bees having "personality" and possessing some form of consciousness (and the ethical implications of that), and much more. Chittka cites extensive scientific research, including his own, that shows bees pulling off surprising cognitive feats (recognizing flowers and human faces, displaying emotions, counting, and using tools). Bees have long fascinated humanity, so it's fitting that Chittka also surveys the insights of eminent historical entomologists--adding another layer of interest and stylistic flair to the text's scholarly content. While some of Chittka's topics are challenging, the book's cogent structure, nifty illustrations, and smartly written chapter summaries and transitions will help pop-science readers through it. VERDICT The book's bees astound; so too the clever humans who study them.--Robert Eagan

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