Object-Independent Counting
When navigating to a food source, bees are able to count independently of the type of objects or landmarks they encounter (Dacke & Srinivasan 2008; Srinivasan 2010) (Fig. 6). The maximum number of landmarks that bees can count during flight is four (Dacke & Srinivasan 2008; Srinivasan 2010) (Fig. 6).
This theory was tested by placing a feeder sequentially at a number of landmarks (exceeding 4), and determining if the bees could predict where the feeder would be in relation to the remaining landmarks. After 4 landmarks, the bees were not able to locate the feeder based on such a counting rule (Dacke & Srinivasan 2008; Srinivasan 2010) (Fig. 6).
This theory was tested by placing a feeder sequentially at a number of landmarks (exceeding 4), and determining if the bees could predict where the feeder would be in relation to the remaining landmarks. After 4 landmarks, the bees were not able to locate the feeder based on such a counting rule (Dacke & Srinivasan 2008; Srinivasan 2010) (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6: Own work - a) when a feeder (the yellow star) is placed at any landmark up to the fourth, bees can navigate back to that feeder regardless of whether the landmarks change in shape or colour.
b) if the feeder is placed at a landmark which lies further than the fourth landmark, bees become confused and return without finding the feeder.