Every time I read a new article about bees it makes me realize just how little we understand biological intelligence. Today’s find: bees can distinguish split-second flashes of light, revealing surprising timing abilities and advanced cognitive flexibility.
Did you know that plants can also tell the time via a special protein (photoreceptor) that responds to a wavelength of light only occurring at dusk — far red light is light that has a longer wavelength than regular red light, but shorter than infrared.
Far red light occurs at dusk because as the Earth rotates, it effectively stretches out the light waves (from the perspective of a place where the sun is setting). It’s basically the same phenomenon as how galaxies that are moving away from us appear to be red (red shift), but on a smaller more subtle scale.
Being able to detect far red light means that a plant can also use mechanisms involving this photoreceptor to perceive the changing of the seasons. For example, if on one day, the sun sets at 6:00pm, and the next day, it sets at 6:05pm, then 6:10pm etc., then the amount of time between each dusk is getting shorter, which means that it’s spring. This is so cool and it blows my mind.
My dog can tell time. I don’t set an alarm. He wakes me up at the exact same time every day. He knows exactly what time dinner is.
Animals know a lot more than we give them credit for! Cows can use a crosswalk correctly!
Without reading the article, I’m surprised we didn’t at least assume this already. I know those clever bastards know where the sun is even when it’s night time.
Not only do they tell time, but they understand unique time signatures, like the ones found in jazz.
They like jazz.
Out: Snake jazz
In: Bee jazz
I bet they don’t like disco snails.
Disco what?
Disco snails, they’re leaving silver trails
I wonder if the daylight/standard time switch messes with them when all the human-influenced activity around them suddenly moves forward/back an hour.
IQ test don’t really work well with other species. A lot insects could more intelligent then we can measure cause we try to put human ways of assessing IQ by how we messure ours it doesn’t work.
Or at least what my ex says, she collects bugs and studies them.
The waggle dance is more impressive IMO.
Yea, but they can only read digital clocks.
