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Bees Can Count, Scientists Claim—Up to 4, That Is

But they cannot go beyond 4

By Sarah Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 27, 2008 10:45 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Honey bees can count up to four, Australian researchers have found, but no higher. In a University of Queensland study, bees repeatedly flew to the same marked spot in a tunnel, even when it did not hold food, Reuters reports. "We find that if you train them to the third stripe, they will look subsequently in the third stripe," one researcher said.

"The more we look at these creatures that have a brain the size of a sesame seed, the more astonished we are," the researcher said. "They really have a lot of the capacities that we so-called higher human beings possess."

A honey bee gathers pollen from a flower in Erie, Colo., on Oct. 13, 2008.
A honey bee gathers pollen from a flower in Erie, Colo., on Oct. 13, 2008.   (AP Photo/Peter M. Fredin)
Honey bees produce honey in a hive in the village of Ein Yahav in southern Israel Sept. 22, 2008.
Honey bees produce honey in a hive in the village of Ein Yahav in southern Israel Sept. 22, 2008.   (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)
David Hackenberg, owner of Hackenberg Apiaries, shows a frame from one of his hives of honey bees in Lewisburg, Pa., June 12, 2007.
David Hackenberg, owner of Hackenberg Apiaries, shows a frame from one of his hives of honey bees in Lewisburg, Pa., June 12, 2007.   (AP Photo/Jimmy May)
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Australia • honeybees • University of Queensland • counting

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