Bees can recognize human faces

Bees can recognize human faces, study finds

Honeybees may look pretty much all alike to us. But it seems we may not look all alike to them. A study has found that they can learn to recognize human faces in photos, and remember them for at least two days.

The findings toss new uncertainty into a long-studied question that some scientists considered largely settled, the researchers say: how humans themselves recognize faces.

The results also may help lead to better face-recognition software, developed through study of the insect brain, the scientists added.

Many researchers traditionally believed facial recognition required a large brain, and possibly a specialized area of that organ dedicated to processing face information. The bee finding casts doubt on that, said Adrian G. Dyer, the lead researcher in the study.

He recalls that when he made the discovery, it startled him so much that he called out to a colleague, telling her to come quickly because “no one’s going to believe it—and bring a camera!”

Dyer said that to his knowledge, the finding is the first time an invertebrate has shown ability to recognize faces of other species. But not all bees were up to the task: some flunked it, he said, although this seemed due more to a failure to grasp how the experiment worked than to poor facial recognition specifically.

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This is absolutely fascinating!!!

And, of course, the implications are enormous!

I have been thinking a lot about bees lately. I can remember as a child seeing them every year in great numbers.

In the past few years, I have also noticed their significant decline. In the last two, I never saw a single honey bee.

When I have time, I will post more on why that decline has happened. It's really quite sad, and is having a devastating impact on plant species...


[edit on 13-12-2005 by loam]

So that would explain, why i feel persecuted by those pesky things.
They must all know me!

[edit on 13-12-2005 by Denied]

I knew it! Ive been stung so many times those bees had it out for me.

Seriously this is interesting Bees are pretty amazing. The can navigate and remember terrain and then pass on that same info with pin point accuracy with their little Bee dance language to other bees.

People have also already started to train them to sniff out Explosives.

Amazing for something that has what a brain the size of a pin head?

I got the following information from a question I asked at this site.

gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov...

I asked how big was the brain of a bee.

The honey bee has a large brain for an insect. If you were to examine a bee, the brain takes up most of the head capsule. The brain looks almost like the shape of a flying bat if you can imagine the little wings resting just beneith the compound eyes. The brain stops about halfway down the head before the bee's mouth parts. There are also glands in the head important in feeding the immature bee brood. Insects also rely on other large circuits of nerve tissue called "ganglia" to help them process information. Think of them as mini-brains that are located along the insects "spine".

Honey bees are very intelligent and have well developed brains with distinct regions.

I remember hearing, several times, that bees will follow the beekeeper's casket to burial. I thought it was an old urban legend.

Has anyone ever heard of a bee sting passing on a virus? I was stung twice by the same yellow jacket and a kind of rough surfaced "freckle" appeared there. Slowly over the years, they have spread and I have small mole like things with that rough surface all over. I once mentioned it to a doctor but he shook his head. But I am convinced, that thing stung me twice on the leg and there is a spot at both places.

Originally posted by Alikospah
I remember hearing, several times, that bees will follow the beekeeper's casket to burial. I thought it was an old urban legend.

Has anyone ever heard of a bee sting passing on a virus? I was stung twice by the same yellow jacket and a kind of rough surfaced "freckle" appeared there. Slowly over the years, they have spread and I have small mole like things with that rough surface all over. I once mentioned it to a doctor but he shook his head. But I am convinced, that thing stung me twice on the leg and there is a spot at both places.

I've never heard about them following a casket, but if I were you I would ask someone who has researched yellow jackets for years about those marks you say that you have.

I would ask someone I thought might know, clearly its not on the medical horizon yet. If I run into an expert on wasps and such I will definitely ask. So far and it has been 12 years, they are just little rough pigmented areas, I doubt anyone even notices them but me. They don't "do" anything so I'm as likely to be hit by a meteorite as anyone and I go on that way. If it surfaces, I'll probablyl run across it sooner or later. LOL Thanks

Come to think of it, I've already had my meteorite close call. One night late, I heard what I thought was a plane sort of diving but quick and instantly felt an impact, it shook the house. I looked outside, didn't see any flames and never heard any sirens so forgot it. Two days later I found a pit in my driveway, it is sandy clay so anything that would make a 4 inch deep pit had to have hit hard. Of course, I never found a trace of a meteorite. If it was one, it may have bounced a mile. The pit is almost worn away now but I will always suspect it was a near hit. The sound was almost a "twang" but the impact so instant it had to be traveling at tremendous speed.

[edit on 15-12-2005 by Alikospah]

I guess you could say that was a close call. Glad it wasn't bigger.

That is very interesting. This summer we had an enormous amount of bees around here. Surprisingly, not one stung me. They would land on me, fly around me, but never would sting me. I must hve done something nice and they remembered It does kind of make you think though. What else is watchig and remembering? muahahahahaha

That is interesting. When one comes near me my immediate reaction is fear and a strong desire to get away. The bees must be able to sense that and react to what they perceive as a threat to them. Or sense somehow that you are not a threat to them.
Honey bees must come to know in time their keeper is not going to hurt them or their offspring, only take away what is already a surplus giving them more room to work. We don't give other creatures enough credit for reasoning I think. There have been beekeepers for centuries so something is at work.