On Jun 11, 6:47 pm, "\"Prickly pear\"" <rosin...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> The article by Su et al. in PLoS One 3(6), 2008, claims that, in a
> mixed colony, with workers of 2 different honeybee species, using
> different "dialects", recruits of the one species were able to
> correctly interpret the information relayed in the dances of foragers
> of the other species, that use a different"dialect". My initial
> intuitive response was a violent rejection!
>
> Only later, upon a careful examination, did I realize that there was a
> very good reason for my intuitive reaction:
>
> Staunch "dance language" (DL) sup****ters are convinced that honeybee
> dances, (that are not learned behavior), are "instinctive", (i.e.
> genetically predetermined); that honeybees have a DL which utilizes
> the spatial information contained in foragers'-dances; that different
> species and strains of the genus Apis, use different "dialects' of
> this DL; and that honeybees have an "instinctive" ability to correctly
> interpret Dl information that is relayed in the "dialect" of their own
> species. I accept none of this, but I will not explain why, because
> this is not the point I wish to expose here.
>
> The point I want to expose is this: Theoretically speaking, the
> results obtained by Sue et al. could be due to recruits having somehow
> acquired the ability to correctly interpret information relayed in a
> different "dialect", or, (as DL opponents claim), recruits simply do
> not use the information, so the "dialect" in which the information is
> relayed, makes no difference.
>
> To a DL opponent the second explanation is the only one acceptable. It
> is also the more parsimonious of the two possible explanations. There
> is, however, a far more basic reason to opt for the second
> explanation. The reason is that the first explanation requires
> honeybees to achieve the impossible! In order to correctly interpret
> information relayed in a foreign "dialects", honeybees must know that
> dialect. Assuming that they can "instinctively" know the "dialect" of
> their own species, they still can, in no way, "instinctively" know a
> foreign "dialect". The only way they can know this is by carrying out
> the kind of scientific research that enabled Su et al. to learn that;
> or else by reading the article that Sue et al. published about that
> research. No one is prepared to even remotely consider the possibility
> that honeybees can conduct scientific research, or learn by reading
> the publication of other scientists. This leaves us with the only
> possible solution, i.e. the conclusion that honeybees do not use any
> DL information!
I find this completely fascinating and I am interested in more
positive developments about the honeybees. There is a lot of terrible
news about the honeybees as I discovered the article regarding the
insecticide used by the Bayer company and its possible play in the
honeybee peril. Any further information about honeybees or link I
would be more than interested. Thank you for this post!
|
