It's Electric!
In addition to their super vision, bees also use electric currents to find flowers as well!
Plants and flowers have a negative charge, whereas bees have a positive charge from flying through the air. In fact, scientists have found that the charge is so strong that pollen can start to leap from the flower to the bee before the bee even lands on a flower!
After a bee visits a flower, it changes the charge of the flower for a few minutes, which may signal to other bees that the flower has already been visited. In a study performed in 2013, scientists found that bumble bees use these electromagnetic fields to find flowers to visit.
Bluebonnets: A chameleon flower?!
Bluebonnets are the prized state flower in Texas, so much that any Texan will tell you it's actually illegal to pick them in the state of Texas. (Hard truths--its actually NOT, but this is a fable that started many generations ago and keeps getting passed down. I'm ok with us keeping up the lie though!)
Have you ever noticed that the mini flowers (florets) that make up the bluebonnet are white in the center towards the top of the plant, and a dark purple towards the bottom of the plant? As the plant grows, the older florets change color as they age, whereas the younger florets open up with white centers.
Why? Bees are very attracted to the bright white spots on the florets, and bluebonnets contain a great deal of highly nutritional pollen. However, as the florets age, the pollen becomes less abundant and less fertile. This adaptation directs the bee to visit the top of the flower to find the youngest pollen, as opposed to the bottom of the flower. This benefits the bee as it may save energy as they don't waste time checking the purple florets for pollen that has already been gathered. And this benefits the plant as it ensures the most fertile pollen is used to pollinate the flower, and therefore produce lots of quality seeds to allow the flower to reproduce.
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