The remarkable brain inside a honeybee's head

A bee's brain is about the size of a sesame seed. It's denser than the brains of mammals and contains almost a million neurons (the human brain has about 100 billion).

Otago University research has shown that alpha oscillations in bee brains (wave-like electrical activity) have similar properties to human brains.

Bees can:

■ make complex calculations on distance, and communicate it to other bees (ie, the ‘bee waggle dance' where a bee moves its body in particular patterns to explain where to find a food source);

■ remember colours and landmarks, often by smell;

■ understand abstract relationships – Australian researchers taught bees to identify specific colours, then used one of the colours to indicate the way through a maze, which the bees then figured out.

It's believed one reason they're so smart is because they live in a highly organised, cooperative group and they know everything they do impacts on others.

Other research found bees learn best in the morning (which is also when nectar levels in flowers are high), and save easier tasks for later in the day.

Sources: hiveandhoneyapiary.com, localhivehoney.com