Dear wild bee friends! It's me, Corni, the mason bee. Follow me through the day and I'll show you how I perceive the world with my five senses: smelling, tasting, seeing, hearing, and feeling. Even though I have the same senses as you, you'll find that we don't experience things in the same way. Come along!
The day begins
Every beautiful day begins after a night of good sleep. The sun's rays warm my small antennae, also called feelers, and I enjoy the beautiful weather that is announcing itself. I wake up and stretch my head out of the entrance of the cave where I have settled for the night. With my antennae, I smell and feel; I perceive the finest vibrations with them.
To see, I open my many eyes wide!
Hunger is setting in! I open my 5,000 eyes in search of pollen and nectar. This helps me get a picture of my surroundings. You only see my two large compound eyes with facets, but these consist of numerous simple hexagonal individual eyes. After all, I see almost 360°, which is practical.
At 12 o'clock, right in front of me: a field of colorful flowers! I can easily find them because I don't see colors the same way you do: green appears grayish to me. This allows me to distinguish my food in the landscape even more efficiently. I don't recognize red – but I can distinguish ultraviolet light.
And off I go, I'm taking off. My three small simple eyes, called ocelli, located between my two compound eyes, help me with this. These are connected to my balance organ, allowing me to stabilize my flight path, so I fly without any turbulence. So, open your eyes and have a good flight!
With all my eyes, I can quickly process visual information, even when it passes by me rapidly. I clearly see my sisters around me and the landscape I'm flying over.
I taste with various parts of my body.
I settle on one of the flowers I tracked down earlier. The ultraviolet light visible on certain parts of the flower guides me to the nectar. Mmm, it's so delicious! Imagine if you could just feel food with your hands. For you, taste goes through your mouth and nose. For me, it's the numerous parts of my body that perceive taste thanks to chemoreceptors located in various places like my proboscis or legs.
I use my antennae to touch and feel.
Hmm, what is that smell? I'm sensing effluvia that are overwhelming me. Don't you feel anything? That must be because I perceive the taste of wax, flowers, and other biologically important smells much better than you do. By the way, it's the other flower over there that smells so good. Come on, let's go try it!
I perceive the vibrations that convey different information to me.
I select more flowers that suit me best thanks to my five sharpened senses. But who is this young male landing on our flower? He looks pretty, with his little white tuft! He uses his antennae to communicate and court me! Based on our vibrations, I choose the lucky one who will mate with me. It's like Tinder for bees.
Come on, let's find some other flowers.
I can hear a tractor in the distance! What a racket! Some of my hairs are so sensitive that they react to the vibrations in the air produced by the noise. I don't have eardrums like you, but I'm very sensitive to vibrations. My antennae also allow me to pick up the vibrations of the sound. Imagine how I'd rock out at a concert!
I didn't even notice how time flew by in your company. It's already getting dark. My three tiny ocelli also allow me to see light and darkness. It's time to go home and return to my cozy shelter. BzzZZz