Do bees play?

FRAMEshift · March 13, 2011, 06:57:53 PM

I have been reading Laurie King's detective novels, starting with "The Beekeeper's Apprentice". The premise is that Sherlock Holmes in his later years retired to Sussex and became a beekeeper. The one I'm reading now is "The Language of Bees". There is a passage supposedly written by Sherlock Holmes claiming that bees like to play...... that they "throw themselves into the air with no purpose but joy" or something along those lines.

Play is a sign of intelligence and I might believe that a superorganism like a bee colony might be capable of that level of intelligence. But individual bees? What do you think? Do bees engage in play?

iddee · March 13, 2011, 07:15:40 PM

It's time you read my latest post.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,31919.0.html

FRAMEshift · March 13, 2011, 07:59:49 PM

Ah, so you believe the bees think too much, huh? :roll:

So have you ever seen bees engage in non-functional behavior? I guess washboarding was once considered non-functional, or a least inexplicable. But now it's been explained. I've seen bees chase each other and I can't find a functional explanation for that. Ever seen something that looked like play?

sterling · March 13, 2011, 08:08:37 PM

Quote from: iddee on March 13, 2011, 07:15:40 PM
It's time you read my latest post.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,31919.0.html

So which party do you recon the bees might be in?

iddee · March 13, 2011, 08:17:14 PM

Washboarding? You mean square dancing, don't you?

Bees work, so they can't be democrats. Maybe independents??

wadehump · March 13, 2011, 09:37:53 PM

come on iddee you cant mean all democrats i have worked for 30 years :)

AllenF · March 13, 2011, 09:47:40 PM

Bees do not play. .

hankdog1 · March 13, 2011, 10:29:22 PM

Quote from: iddee on March 13, 2011, 08:17:14 PM
Bees work, so they can't be democrats. Maybe independents??

65% of a bee's life is spent resting could be a democrat. Of course on the other hand we take almost everything they make and just leave them enough to get by so i guess that makes beekeepers democrats i think. oooh nevermind my brain hurts from all this thinking. heck may as well just go sign up for the democratic party tomorrow. :evil:

hankdog1 · March 13, 2011, 10:31:43 PM

To get back on topic no i don't think so. While social insects i don't see play as what you observe. Just don't see a bee's brain doing much more then they are already programed to do.

hardwood · March 13, 2011, 10:47:02 PM

Dang, now I gotta return that mini swing set to Walmart! You could've warned me sooner!

Scott

FRAMEshift · March 13, 2011, 11:44:38 PM

Quote from: hankdog1 on March 13, 2011, 10:31:43 PM
To get back on topic no i don't think so. While social insects i don't see play as what you observe. Just don't see a bee's brain doing much more then they are already programed to do.

In general I agree with that. But I know that individual bees have some capacity to learn from experience. The first time a bee tries to extract nectar from an alfalfa flower, the spring mechanism of the flower snaps shut and traps the bee's proboscis. After getting stuck a few times, the bee learns to move it's head to one side to avoid the trap.

Play serves to connect animals in a social bond. We think of play as frivolous but it actually is socially complex functional behavior. So maybe washboarding is play after all. Ok, iddee..... square dancing it is! :-D

And speaking of politics, bees definitely practice that black art. Recruiting foragers to a particular patch of flowers has all the characteristics of politics. And the mechanism for choosing a new hive site for a swarm sure looks like voting behavior.

Finski · March 14, 2011, 10:58:48 AM

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At least bees may play political games

Wikipedia knows:

Have you accustomed Maya the Bee ?

The original book from 1912 was a fable with a political message, analogously to Jean de La Fontaine's or Ivan Krylov's work. In many ways, the fable lauds German nationalism[citation needed]. Maya represents the ideal citizen, and the beehive represents a well-organized militarist society. It has also elements of nationalism, racism and militarism. Maya gets angry in two instances. First, a grasshopper fails to distinguish between bees and wasps. Maya's vicious verbal attack includes calling the wasps "a useless gang of bandits" [Räubergeschlecht] that have no "home or faith" [Heimat und Glauben]. Second, a fly calls Maya an idiot, which prompts Maya to shout that she's going to teach "respect for bees" and to threaten the fly with her stinger. This is analyzed such that respect is based on the threat of violence. Collectivism is also a theme. Maya's independent opinion and departure from the beehive is seen as reproachable, but it is atoned by her warning of the hornets' attack. This show of loyalty restores her position in the society. In the hornet attack part of the story, the bees' will to defend and the heroic deaths of bee officers is glorified, often in overtly militarist tones.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_the_Bee

FRAMEshift · March 14, 2011, 11:21:16 AM

Quote from: Finski on March 14, 2011, 10:58:48 AM
Maya's vicious verbal attack includes calling the wasps "a useless gang of bandits" [Räubergeschlecht] that have no "home or faith"

She got that one right!

Cascadebee · March 14, 2011, 03:55:59 PM

For play, an animal needs free time. Bees do not have this luxury IMO.

However, if the bees of America were to unionize they might get a five day workweek with weekends free for play! :mrgreen: (that was for you iddee)

The quoted passage reeks of anthropomorphism.

FRAMEshift · March 14, 2011, 04:30:42 PM

Quote from: Cascadebee on March 14, 2011, 03:55:59 PM
The quoted passage reeks of anthropomorphism.

Anthropomorphism? Well yes, attributing behavior to "joy" is a bit much. But it's not just humans that play. Don't squirrels play? Porpoises and elephants certainly do. Lemurs and orangutans spend lots of time in play. Mice play too. If it's based on intelligence, then where does a hive rank?

If it's free time that matters, bees have lots of it. Foragers don't have much to do at night or when it rains. About half the hive goes into a "rest" period at night. And just look at all the indolence when the bees are bearding in late afternoon. :-D

Finski · March 14, 2011, 04:52:12 PM

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Sometimes hives have played with me.

Especially I remember one big hive. When I handled the hive, they look me silently 15 minutes. When I was halfway it made me run. They ruled the speed and I ruled the direction.

********

I must tell a story about an apple thieve who went into the garden of marathon runner champion.

Guy went to pick apples to the garden and the owner noticed that. The thieve start to run along the main road but the owner followed. The marathon runner kept a proper distance to the thieve and they run a long distance. Finally the thieve collapsed down and cannot move any more. The owner turned towards home and said nothing to the thieve.

.

Acebird · March 14, 2011, 05:39:49 PM

QuoteBees work, so they can't be democrats. Maybe independents??

Democrats and independents are more intellegent so they don't have to work as hard. :-P

Play is a form of learning for most animal species. I would guess that bees play for the same reason.

RZRBCK BEE · March 14, 2011, 06:34:51 PM

Quote from: iddee on March 13, 2011, 08:17:14 PM
Washboarding? You mean square dancing, don't you?

Bees work, so they can't be democrats. Maybe independents??

or they would be giving some other bees honey away. LOL

Brian D. Bray · March 14, 2011, 09:34:42 PM

Bees do have spare time, it is most evident when bearding is noticed.

Orientation flights are a form of play and bees do this for days or weeks before they actually begin foraging. Another form of play is the head to head dance, where bees will face each other and make a series of repetative movements of touching feelers, proboscis's, and head bumps.

Finski · March 14, 2011, 11:02:02 PM

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Yes, and belly dancing. It is their favorit

Honey Bee Dance Language