The Mind's a Honey Bee by

Honey Bee History

garcia1054 — 2024-04-19 17:28:33 UTC

Honeybees have been a part of the lives of the global population for years. The art of beekeeping can be traced as far back as ancient Egypt. The Ancient Mayans were the first to domesticate a species of stingless bees, followed by Australia¹. In 1682 the Greek beehive was discovered by an English travel writer George Wheler². From this, the beekeeping game was changed, and the colonists brought over bees in the 1620s for wax and sugar³. Unfortunately, the Native American honeybee is now endangered from going extinct, which is a peril to many plant processes in the world that require pollination. To fix this we have to understand both bee-havior and human behaviors to make change.

Sources:

1: The history of Bees and Humans. Bee Bold Alliance. (n.d.). https://beeboldalliance.org/the-history-of-bees-and-humans

2: Phillpott, M. (2023, August 24). History of bees in 24 tweets 2023 part 1. History of Bees in 24 Tweets 2023 Part 1. https://honeybeehistories.substack.com/p/history-of-bees-in-24-tweets-2023?utm_source=publication-search

3: The truth about honey bees. National Wildlife Federation. (n.d.). https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2021/June-July/Gardening/Honey-Bees

The Natural History Approach

garcia1054 — 2024-04-19 17:28:42 UTC

The initial thinkings on animal behavior studies date back as far as the 17th century in European works. Some of the major names in animal studies include Charles Darwin who in 1859 derived scientific reasoning behind animal behaviors, beyond divinity¹ which could be seen from his publishing of "On the Origin of Species".² In 1871-72 "The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex," as well as "Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals" were publications Darwin also made that changed how people explained the behavioral differences within and between species². One of the biggest things to note from his work is that as brains became more complex so did animal behaviors. This paved the way for more naturalistic observation studies of the modern era to occur. This aids our understanding of various species and their interactions with others and themselves

Sources:

1: Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). History and Basic Concepts. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/animal-behavior/History-and-basic-concepts

2: Timeline- the history of animal behavior - 300 BC the “chain of being” was proposed by. Studocu. (n.d.). https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/university-of-delaware/animal-physiology/timeline-the-history-of-animal-behavior/43736626

Studying Bee-havior

garcia1054 — 2024-04-19 17:29:10 UTC

There are four kinds of bee social behavior, and only two of them are social bees¹. The two types of social bees are primitively social and highly social¹. Honey bees fall under the highly social kind of bee, in which they have a queen hierarchy¹. They work together to care for the nest and create honey, however, this tends to only be the female bees, as the male bee's main and only use is reproduction¹. Bees that leave the nest start their first flight of the day with an "orientation flight," which is a zig-zag form that gradually gets higher and farther from the nest¹. Because of Nikolaas Tinbergen's research, we know that during these flights the bees are memorizing landmarks near their nest to return home after foraging¹.

Sources:

1: Paleontological Research Institute. (n.d.). Bee behavior. Museum of the Earth. https://www.museumoftheearth.org/bees/behavior

A, Bee, Cs of Medicine

garcia1054 — 2024-04-19 17:29:20 UTC

Honey from bees has been suggested throughout history to have medical uses, so why wouldn't people want to study them? In biblical writings, they suggest that honey has medicinal purposes for purifying¹. Honey was widely used in Chinese medicine for ailments such as wounds, burns, asepsis, and other ailments like cough, insomnia, and stomach and digestion issues¹. The use of honey for medicinal purposes is growing again now in modern days, however, it is not truly proven to be effective in science. The use of bees for their healing properties throughout history is the reason to understand better their behaviors.

Sources:

1: Brandstetter, G. (2020, September 10). Catch the buzz–sweet history of medicinal honey | bee culture. Bee Culture. https://www.beeculture.com/catch-the-buzz-sweet-history-of-medicinal-honey/

Development of Ethology

garcia1054 — 2024-04-19 17:29:50 UTC

The roots of the field of ethology were developed throughout the late 19th to early 20th century¹. Ethology is the study of animal behaviors. This started with those who were conducting research doing it with vertebrate species. An example of this initial discourse on animal behavior can be seen with the ideas of Pavlov, and his classical conditioning of dogs¹. Another example of this initial discourse can be seen with B.F. Skinner and his rat experiments which demonstrated operant conditioning, as well as with his birds. These studies paved the way for the greater development of the study of ethology, as these were experiments meant to link to people. Both Skinner and Pavlov were able to attribute their ideas to people and conditioning them to do different tasks!

Sources:

1: Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). History and Basic Concepts. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/animal-behavior/History-and-basic-concepts

Konrad Lorenz, and Nikolaas (Niko) Tinbergen

garcia1054 — 2024-04-19 17:30:51 UTC

The naturalistic observation approach is utilized greatly for the study of all other animals as it allows for a better understanding of the world around us! In the year 1942 Niko Tinbergen had four concerns of animal behavior derived from combining the perspectives of both ethology and comparative psychology². These ideas lead to the stress that ethology is just like any other branch of biology and that it falls under the 4 analysis levels; causation, function, evolutionary history, and ontology¹. In the same year, Konrad Lorenz conducted studies in the lab in an attempt to replicate the natural environment of the animal(s) he was studying². Lorenz used his background in zoology and its methods³. His ideas highlighted the notion that behavioral patterns may go back to evolutionary history, and also known for his work on the roots of aggression³.

1: Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). History and Basic Concepts. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/animal-behavior/History-and-basic-concepts

3: Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2024, March 5). Konrad Lorenz. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Konrad-Lorenz

Karl von Frisch

garcia1054 — 2024-04-19 17:31:24 UTC

Karl von Frisch is an Austrian scientist who lived from 11/20/1886 to 6/12/1982. Karl von Frisch got his degree in Munich and initially studied fish and their acuity to color¹. von Frisch is one of three 1973 Nobel Prize winners, he and his colleagues (the other winners) studied animal behaviors. His studies on bee and bee behavior are what led to the field of Ethology as well as paved the way for neuroethology! Karl von Frisch's most notable studies are of bee behavior and how it contributes to their, bee, society¹. He found that bees can distinguish between taste and odors and that bees communicate through "dancing" to direct the hive¹. Von Frisch demonstrated in the 1940s that bees navigate by the Sun and execute dances to indicate the location of food supplies to other members of their colony². He also observed that fish had a keen listening ability. These contributions lead to a lot about what we know when it comes to human and non-human nature to be a community worker and participant.

Sources

1: Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2024, March 5). Karl von Frisch. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Karl-von-Frisch

Modern Neuroethology

garcia1054 — 2024-04-19 17:31:31 UTC

"Neuroethology refers to the study of the neural basis of natural behavior in animals."¹ This means the study of the brain and thought processes, neurology, of animals and how it relates to their behaviors. Neuroethology is a relatively new brand of study coming out of the mid-late 19th century, that had the way paved for it by ethology and neurophysiology as well as other neuroscience innovations¹. Unfortunately, due to the nature of ethology, it can be hard to get hard evidence of the neurology of animals in their natural environment, thus evolutionary aspects in addition to a comparative approach make up the classical model¹. They look at things such as interactions, song & communication, processing, and behavioral plasticity in order to make their discoveries in the field¹.

Sources:

Zupanc, G. K. H. (n.d.). Neuroethology. Scholarpedia. http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Neuroethology

Dancing Queens, or Dancing Bees

garcia1054 — 2024-04-19 17:32:45 UTC

In the 1940s it was discovered that bees can navigate by the Sun. It was also found that bees execute 'dances' to share the location of food supplies with those in the colony². For this to work, the bees watch one bee perform the dance and share her nectar with everyone; they can also smell the floral fragrance on her¹. There are two kinds of dances, the waggle dance and the round dance. The waggle dance shares direction and distance, as the center waggle shows approximate distance, and the direction is demonstrated in the hive, to show the angle in comparison to the sun¹. The round dance is only done when the floral patch is nearby, and may only ever contain a small waggle when turning around in repetition of the circle².

This demonstrates non-verbal animal communication and deep community thinking within the hives. This is important to understanding the ethology of animals, and how it may relate to humans, or completely differ.

Sources:

1: Introduction. Bee Waggle Dance - Introduction | Ask A Biologist. (n.d.). https://askabiologist.asu.edu/bee-dance-game/introduction.html

Naturalistic Observation

garcia1054 — 2024-04-19 17:34:37 UTC

Naturalistic Observation is a method of research where the researcher studies someone or something's behavior in its natural setting without disrupting it in any form¹. This form of research cannot be replicated and is typically conducted by social scientists studying behaviors of people, or animals¹. These behaviors are in turn recorded and coded into data points to highlight a hypothesis or idea around the behaviors being observed in the given setting¹. This has been going on since the beginning of time as the world's greatest power is observation. It is human nature to observe the doings of the world and others around us.

Sources:

1: Mcleod, S. (2024, January 19). Observation methods: Naturalistic, Participant and Controlled. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/observation.html#Naturalistic-Observation

AI... Animal Intelligence

garcia1054 — 2024-04-19 17:37:19 UTC

The American Psychological Association defines Animal intelligence as "the various abilities of nonhuman animals to solve problems in their environment through mechanisms of learning and animal cognition."¹ From initial teachings that intelligence only measures up to humans, we have since learned that intelligence comes in many forms other than the linear ones of a human¹. The example the APA gives of non-linear human intelligence is swarm intelligence, which is "the cumulative problem-solving ability of a group of animals of one species" which can be demonstrated by animals such as ants¹. To this day people argue that animal cognition research is held to higher standards compared to research on human cognition². Animal cognition challenges its thinkers on ideas of the capacities of language, community, legality, and more to be a more sophisticated being². But who gets the credit for starting debates on animal cognition? Some think that it started in 1882 with Though Romanes’ publication of Animal Intelligence, whereas it is officially marked by the educational textbook The Animal Mind by Margaret Floy Washburn in 1908³.

Sources:

1: American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Apa Dictionary of Psychology. American Psychological Association. https://dictionary.apa.org/animal-intelligence

2: Andrews, K., & Monsó, S. (2021, March 8). Animal cognition. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cognition-animal/

3: Springer Publishing Company. (2023, August 20). Historical perspective on animal cognition. Springer Publishing. https://connect.springerpub.com/content/book/978-0-8261-6235-9/chapter/ch01#:~:text=As%20mentioned%20earlier%2C%20the%20official,The%20Animal%20Mind%20(1908).

Let's Return to Nature

garcia1054 — 2024-04-19 17:38:55 UTC

It was not until the 1930s when Konrad Lorenz, & Nikolaas Tinbergen as well as some others entered the scene. From this, the field naturalists were able to return their studies and observations to nature and the natural habitats of the insects¹. This approach to science, of naturalistic observation, but of animals allowed for a greater study of animals. It allows for better depictions of behavior as well as why they may do these behaviors. This is deemed more encompassing in the world of study as it is unaffected and unhindered by extra variables as well as scientific lad depletions¹. This has been highly effective in the world of science in order to best understand animal behaviors¹.

Sources:

1: Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). History and Basic Concepts. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/animal-behavior/History-and-basic-concepts