Recent research has begun to shed light on the remarkable cognitive abilities of bees, despite their small brains containing only 960,000 neurons compared to the approximately 100 billion neurons found in a human brain. Along with the incredible ability to navigate, and communicate the coordinates to other bees in the colony, studies have shown that bees are capable of complex behaviors such as the ability to learn from other bees, counting, problem-solving, and even using simple tools, indicating a level of intelligence that is just starting to be understood.
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These discoveries can easily contribute to the understanding that intelligence in bees (and any other sentient being, for that matter) is not merely a function of brain size, but areas of non-physical mechanisms that enable complex behaviors. From a Buddhist perspective this is called mind or consciousness. The ability of bees to learn from one another and adapt their behaviors underscores the need for further exploration into the cognitive capacities that science is still not able to understand.
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Bees are proving to be highly intelligent creatures capable of social learning and problem-solving, challenging traditional views on animal cognition and opening new avenues for understanding how intelligence can manifest in different forms across species.​
Demonstrating a collective decision-making process within a colony of honey bees which allows for robust debate and a democratic system for collective decisions within a 'super-organism' to be of maximum benefit to the colony.
Beyond their role as pollinators, bees exhibit astonishing cognitive prowess, from problem-solving skills to pattern recognition that challenges preconceptions and showcasing their remarkable intelligence.
Serious puzzle solving skills, and learning to count and teachings other bees to get the prize. And bees not only playing golf, but teaching each other to play golf. Far out!
When I consider the lack of cooperation in human society, I can only conclude that it stems from ignorance of our interdependent nature. I am often moved by the example of small insects, such as bees. The laws of nature dictate that bees work together in order to survive. As a result, they possess an instinctive sense of social responsibility. They have no constitution, laws, police, religion or moral training, but because of their nature they labour faithfully together. Occasionally they may fight, but in general the whole colony survives on the basis of cooperation. Human beings, on the other hand, have constitutions, vast legal systems and police forces; we have religion, remarkable intelligence and a heart with great capacity to love. But despite our many extraordinary qualities, in actual practice we lag behind those small insects; in some ways, I feel we are poorer than the bees.
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His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama
The Global Community and the Need for Global Responsibility (2002)
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Social learning among honey bees
Among the fascinating and complex behaviours that research has found among honey bees, one of the most intriguing is how they communicate with each other through dance to broadcast a range of essential information about the location of food with remarkable precision within around a 2km area around the hive.
The dance has been developed through millions of years of evolution allowing bees to share information, prioritize activities and make decisions in order to be of maximum benefit to the colony.
When a foraging bee returns to the hive she performs the waggle dance that communicates sources of nectar, water, pollan and when necessary the best location for a new nesting site. She has such fine spatial awareness in a 2km area, and cognitive ability to bring that information back to the hive, as well as the ability to communicate the coordinates with extremely precise movements and timing. Amazing! Then consider that all the foragers in the hive have all the capabilities needed to be very sure of the coordinates they have watched with remarkable accuracy, and so know exactly where they need to go.
But the direct and distance of the food source is only part of the waggle dance. The forager bee is also able to convey landmarks to watch out for on route, and the quality of the food she found. In that way, the foragers are able to prioritise a food source that is particularly rich and worth visiting.
A collective decision-making tool
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With all that in mind, the waggle dance is not just a highly sophisticated communication system, it is part of a complex decision-making process in the hive. At any one time, many foragers are returning to the hive to pass on what they have found, and so the hive is about to prioritise the food source most beneficial for the colony at any time. This ability clearly demonstrates the awesome efficiency of the honey bee colony where thousands of bees work together to benefit the collective through the clear communication of their foraging bees.

Add bees to the rarefied list of tool-using animals, which already includes primates, crows, octopods, otters and porpoises
It is our collective and individual responsibility to to preserve and tend to the environment in which we all live.
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His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama