Until now, it wasn't clear how the honeybee consumes the flower's surgery fluid. But thanks to professors at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, we can watch a slow motion video that shows the gross science at work:
What we're seeing at the outset of the video in the middle-top of the screen is a tube that the honeybee's mouth creates when the insect wants to drink. Then the tongue, called the glossa, which has active hairs at the end that resemble a mop, extends through the tube and dips into the liquid. The hairs of the glossa snap outward — from the base to the tip — and then flatten, catching the sweet nectar in its bristles. Finally, the bee withdraws its tongue. And this whole process takes only 400 milliseconds. Now, who's thirsty?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 yearsSpeed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
-
Dehorning rhinos sharply cuts poaching, study findsSpeed Read The painless procedure may be an effective way to reduce the widespread poaching of rhinoceroses
-
Breakthrough gene-editing treatment saves babyspeed read KJ Muldoon was healed from a rare genetic condition
-
Sea lion proves animals can keep a beatspeed read A sea lion named Ronan beat a group of college students in a rhythmic dance-off, says new study
