In a study that challenges current ideas about the insect brain, researchers have found that honey bees on cocaine tend to exaggerate.
Normally, foraging honey bees alert their comrades to potential food sources only when they've found high quality nectar or pollen, and only when the hive is in need. They do this by performing a dance, called a "round" or "waggle" dance, on a specialized "dance floor" in the hive. The dance gives specific instructions that help the other bees find the food.
Foraging honey bees on cocaine are more likely to dance, regardless of the quality of the food they've found or the status of the hive, the authors of the study report.
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This entire article, especially the headline, just cracks me up. But it's also a really interesting study that "supports the idea that in certain circumstances, honey bees, like humans, are motivated by feelings of reward." This may mean that insects have more going on in their crunchy little exoskeletons than we give them credit for.
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