While sharing a children’s book on insects with his daughter, Matt Shipman stumbled upon an intriguing fact—bees perceive colors differently than humans. His daughter’s question sent him, a communications researcher at North Carolina State University, down a rabbit hole of bee vision. What he found was a kingdom of beauty that no human could ever see.
How Bees See the World
The visible spectrum for humans is approximately from 390 to 750 nm which is from violet to red. However, bees view the world through a different lens. They can see ultraviolet light because their visual spectrum is around 300 to 650 nanometers, but they are red blind.
Bees have vision that is specifically attuned to contrasts of light and dark, which allows them to see edges and shapes. Although they have trouble with continuous forms, such as circles, their sight is a vehicle for survival.
Why Vision Matters to Bees
It is not only an aesthetic issue for the bees, but it is a matter of life and death. They use their eyes to find the flowers, which are the only food source of nectar and pollen. Although smell helps direct the bees to the general area of the flowers, color vision enables them to see the blossoms from a distance, allowing for efficient use of energy in locating their food.
Ultraviolet Patterns: Nature’s Secret Code
There is a very interesting argument about whether bees evolved to be better able to sense the flowers or if the flowers evolved to become more conspicuous to bees. The consensus leans toward the latter. Flowers have UV patterns (colors) made for the purpose of insect pollinators. These patterns are invisible to human eyes but act as neon signs for bees.
These UV patterns usually mark certain “landing zones” on the flowers and the bees are actually led right to the nectar. This is very efficient foraging for the bees, and good cross-pollination for the flowers.
Decoding Bee Vision
How do we know what bees see? After decades of studying bees, scientists have devised some very innovative experiments in order to decipher the abilities of bee vision. A method that is often used is to train the bees to associate colors with rewards like sugar water. Bees can be conditioned through repetition to prefer certain colors (like yellow) after the food is removed which shows that they are able to differentiate between colors.
It is not only through behavioral tests that researchers study the bees’ eyes, but also by examining the photoreceptors themselves by exposing them to different wavelengths of light. Scientists have determined what colors the bees can see by mapping out the wavelengths to which they react.
The Hidden Beauty of Flowers Through Bee Eyes
While the colors we see are striking, bees experience flowers in a way that reveals hidden layers of beauty. The UV patterns they use to find nectar and pollen make for a very complex, colorful world that we are not able to see or perceive. Luckily, ultraviolet photography allows a window into this world, giving humans a glimpse of the amazing patterns that bees see every day.
Nature, through a bee’s eyes, is far more intricate and surprising than it appears to us. From ultraviolet floral signals to their distinct color perception, bees have evolved to experience—and interact with—a world beyond our own.
