Why Can’t Honey Bees Fly Over Reflected Surfaces?

When flying over surfaces such as mirrors and stagnant water where honey bees can see their reflections, they are strangely affected and their ability to fly is impaired. lost A fact that has been known for many years. However, what kind of power was behind this effect of bees’ flight remained a secret. Until now.

The mystery of disrupting the flight of honey bees flying over reflective surfaces has finally been revealed by a new study. enlightened. Accordingly, how low the bees descend on such surfaces. unable to notice was discovered.

Why bees fall on reflective surfaces finally becomes clear

In 1963, an Austrian entomologist named Herbert Heran and German behavioral scientist Martin Lindauer noticed something strange in the flight of honey bees. By training selected bees to fly over a lake, researchers found that when there are waves and ripples on the surface of the water, honeybees can cross over to the other side; but the lake is like a mirror smooth They observed that the bees fall by losing altitude when there is

These findings were used to find directions for honey bees during flight. visual cues contributed to his idea. With the newly conducted follow-up tests, a brand new perspective has been brought to this idea. Repeating the experiment carried out in 1963, the researchers used honeybees to control their altitude during flight. watching the ground accelerate reached its conclusion.

In experiments conducted in a rectangular tunnel lined with adjustable mirrors, the researchers observed that when all mirrors are turned off or when the ceiling mirror is turned on, honeybees can easily get to the other side of the tunnel, usually maintaining a constant altitude. However, the situation is when the mirror below the rectangle is opened, causing the floor to appear twice as far from normal. changed.

The bees, which were able to fly without any problems before, started to lose altitude until they collided with the base after traveling 40 centimeters. The situation is more difficult when both the ceiling and the floor are mirrors. bad and it was observed that the bees started to decline after only 8 centimeters.

Different species rely on different techniques to fly

These findings are sometimes experienced by human aviators and cause difficulties in maintaining their altitude when they cannot see their ground speed. spatial disorientation The similarity was striking. Fortunately, we have the technology to help us overcome spatial reflections; but the same is not true for bees.

on the subject “Interestingly, our double mirror situation allowed us to approach the flight conditions of clear sky flight above a calm water surface” The authors of the study noted that their results are in line with the results of the previous study. that you overlap it states. To put it another way, the new research finds that instead of visual cues from the sky, the bees maintain their altitude. visual cues on the ground supports his idea.

Related to this, the researchers believe, when the ground is no longer a smooth baseline, the bees descend to regain the ‘ventral optical flow’. So bees who think the ground is further away than it actually is Doesn’t realize how low they’ve fallen and as a result it crashes to the ground.

Even more bizarrely, another study used ventral optic flow to control altitudes of fruit flies. did not use detected. So it’s kind of a different species to fly. different techniques It shows you using it.