If you’ve ever wondered how beekeepers have such a good rapport with their bees, it’s actually because these clever little bugs can actually differentiate between human faces and return to their beekeeper.
David Tarpy, a professor of applied ecology at North Carolina State University and all-around beekeeping expert said: “Bees are really, really good at learning. They will stick out their tongues expecting a little bit of honey reward if they get a particular stimulus—in this case, if they flew toward a certain face.”
As if we couldn’t love them more?!
However, it’s a little more complicated than you’d think
Tarpy explained: “The real question is if bees do this in normal practice, and the answer is probably not.
“There’s no real need for them to distinguish one big mammal from another big mammal. But the fact is that they can, and it’s very interesting how well they can learn and discriminate between different things in their environment.”
Interestingly, Tarpy also noted that bees actually have quite poor eyesight, making this even more of a feat.
Of course, like all living creatures, they are motivated by food and more importantly, survival.
This means that while we may find it endearing that they can learn what our faces look like, these bees are just looking for their food source.
This means that if a beekeeper visits their colony at the same time every day, the bees will be waiting for them and will anticipate their arrival, because they want food. In much the same way that they’d know that some flowering plants only open in the afternoon.
Tarpy added: “Bees can integrate decisions through their circadian rhythms to be able to anticipate rewards that are important to them,
“Such as where the food is and when it’s available, or threats such as bears or humans coming and robbing their honey. So they can actually distinguish and learn those things over time.
