Bees Can Count

Scientists in Sydney at the University of Queensland have discovered that Honey Bees can count, but only to a maximum of four. The Honey bees where placed in a tube with 3 white stripes food was placed on one of these stripes. When you remove the food the bees still fly to the same stripe.

"We find that if you train them to the third stripe, they will look subsequently in the third stripe," researcher Mandyam Srinivasan said.

The same technique works with the other stripes up to a maximum of four. It seems that bees cannot count past four. This is not surprising due to the extreme small size for their brain -- it is about the size of a sesame seed. However I find this truly amazing that something so small has the ability to count. I wonder what other animals have other yet undiscovered abilities.

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE49P04V20081026