Some new research has shown that bumblebees can detect electric signals from flowers to help them find food. Researchers in a laboratory setting created fake ‘flowers’ providing bumblebees with food. In those that had a nectar ‘reward’, the researchers applied an electrical charge. In those with no reward, there was no charge. They found that after several visits, the bees were preferentially visitng those ‘flowers’ which were charged, showing that they were able to detect and use the information (the charge). It just shows how keenly bumblebees’ senses are focussed upon finding food, and live in a sensroy world that is very different from our own. Remarkable!

Read the article here for more information: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21508035