Bumblebees Lick Their Lips When They Like a Treat!
The News
Scientists filmed bumblebees in super slow motion and made a surprising discovery: when a bee tastes something sweet, it sticks out its little tongue like it's licking its lips. When it tastes something bitter, it shakes its head and wipes its mouth with its front legs — the same yucky-face reactions we have! The study, published in a scientific journal called PNAS, was the first to show that insects may have feelings we can actually see on their faces.
The wildflower meadow buzzed with warm afternoon sun. Professor Pip crouched beside a wooden bench where he had set out two tiny white ceramic saucers. One was full of golden honey-water. The other was full of dark, briny bitter-water.
"Oh my whiskers," he chuckled, pulling his big brass magnifying glass out of his lab coat pocket. "Come see this, my scientists. Very carefully now — no sudden moves."
Mia and Beatrix tiptoed over and crouched down. A fat, fuzzy bumblebee landed on the rim of the honey saucer. She dipped her long, straw-like tongue in.
"Watch her face," whispered Pip. "Watch."
The bee finished sipping, lifted her head — and her tiny pink tongue flicked out again, curling. Then again. Almost like… well…
"Professor Pip! She's LICKING HER LIPS!" hissed Mia, hands to her mouth.
"Precisely! Just wait." Another bee wobbled over to the second saucer, poked her tongue into the bitter-water, and immediately —
SHAKE. SHAKE. WIPE. She jerked her head back and forth and scrubbed her mouth with her front legs. Then she zoomed away in a huff.
Beatrix squealed. "She did NOT like that one!"
"She most certainly did not!" cried Pip, tail swishing. "Scientists in China and Australia used slow-motion cameras to film bees doing this over and over again — 18 whole colonies! And every single time, sweet food got a lip-lick. Bitter food got a head-shake and a mouth-wipe. Scientists call those little face movements orofacial behaviors — which is just a big word for 'face-feelings.'"
"But…" Beatrix scrunched her nose, "bees are so tiny. Do tiny animals really feel things?"
Pip's eyes softened. He tapped the magnifying glass. "That's the biggest question in the study, my dear. For a very long time, scientists thought only big animals — like dogs, or elephants, or people — could like things and dislike things. But if a bee's face acts EXACTLY the way YOUR face acts when you taste broccoli —"
"BLEH!" said Mia, sticking out her tongue.
"— then maybe, just maybe, bees feel a little something too."
Beatrix looked at the meadow full of drifting bees, quiet for a moment. "Oh! It's like when I don't like green olives, but I DO like grapes."
"Exactly right!" beamed Pip. "You've been telling the whole world your feelings with your face this whole time — and now we know bees might too."
He passed each of them a magnifying glass from his pocket. "Now you try. Go and find a bee — very very gently — and watch her face. She might just be smiling at you."
Spark a Conversation
- What food makes YOUR face do the "bleh" head-shake? What food makes you lick your lips?
- If bees have face-feelings, do you think ants might too? What about spiders?
- Why do you think it took scientists so long to notice bees have "faces" like ours?