Bumblebees Making Security Trade-Offs
I have long been enamored with security trade-offs in the natural world:
A 3D video tracking system revealed that although the bees became very accurate at detecting the camouflaged spiders—they also became increasingly wary.
“When they come in to inspect flowers, they spend a little bit longer hovering in front of them when they know a camouflaged spider is present,” said Dr Ings.
With this “trade-off”, the bees may lose valuable foraging time—but they reduce the risk of becoming the crab spider’s next meal.
Dave X • September 8, 2008 1:27 PM
The movie doesn’t look informative: It looks like the bees do exactly the same thing each of the 4 times. Is it a mistake?
It is sort of fun to see the bee-catching robot pinchers nab the bees.