Many animals favor one side of their body over the other , from elephant with a fondness for one tusk to kangaroo having a penchant to use their left hand for various tasks . But this predilection is not limited to creatures with more cognitive know - how , as researchers have discover that the humble honeybeehas a predilection for the left over or righttoo .
The new study , published inPLOS One , find out that while some bees did n’t seem to have an inclination to fly on one side or the other , others clearly and consistently had a bias . “ Unlike human beings , who are mostly powerful - handed , some bee display a solid left bias , others a potent right bias , and yet others a washy or zero bias,”saysProfessor Mandyam Srinivasan , co - writer on the paper .
The researchersused a number of different experimentson their little insect test subjects . The canonical set up involve a long tube , with a tasty nectar process at one death . For the bee though , it was n’t quite this simpleton , as the investigator placed an obstruction in the midsection to wedge the bees to choose between going either left or right and spend through a hole .
For the first set up , they varied the size of the holes , and the Apis mellifera invariable chose the with child opening around 80 percent of the clip . This , obviously , would make signified for a bee so as to not get stuck . Yet when the researchers made the two holes equal in size , the bee then did something unexpected .
While roughly half the insects showed zero druthers for which mess they went through , it sprain out that 45 percent of the bee very much did bear in mind which gob they flew through , and had decipherable preferences for either the left or the veracious side . But when the researchers then essay these bee further , by variegate the size of the trap again , things get interesting .
If they took a flop - handed bee and put her in a burrow in which the left over hollow was large , she would waver somewhat before go to the bigger opening night , as if trying to decide which route to take . When they then did this the other way , and put the larger hole on the right side , the bee took a shorter menstruation of clip to make the decisiveness of which way to go .
“ We believe these individual prejudice help to ameliorate the escape efficiency of a horde of bees through obtusely littered environments , ” Professor Srinivasancontinues . “ Flying insects constantly face the challenge of choosing efficient , good and collision - free path while sail through dense leaf . ”
The investigator think that this unexampled noesis could help in monotone design , by avail to create aircrafts that make self-directed decisions while fly .
