Honeybees Are Right 'Handed'

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http://www.businessinsider.com/honeybees-favor-their-right-antennas-2013-6



When bees are forced to interact with only their left antennas, they have trouble bee-having: Just as humans shake with their right hands, bees also greet each other by predominantly using their right antennas.
A new study found that when pairs of bees interact solely with their right antennas, they approach each other and begin interacting more quickly, and relate more positively to each other — for instance by extending their tongue, or proboscis.

When they interact only with their left antennas, on the other hand, they are much more likely to respond negatively, arching their body into a C-shape so that their stingers and mandibles are pointed at the other bees, the study found.

Favoring the right

What does it mean? The findings suggest that bees prefer to use their right antennas in social situations to better relate to one another and to pick up on certain "social cues," said Giorgio Vallortigara, a researcher at Italy's University of Trento. [In Photos: Honeybee Scouts Find Food]



Read more: http://www.livescience.com/37790-bees-use-right-antenna.html#ixzz2XVebzSpW