

all 78 comments

[–]Lithuim 237 points238 points  (47 children)

Most species of insect don't really have a "home," just wherever they happen to be at the moment. Spiders and other species that do construct a more permanent burrow will build a new one.

The ecosystem of two miles down the road is probably roughly the same as where you were before, so it'll be fine.

[–]PotatoTime 99 points100 points  (31 children)

But what about bees or ants that form complex societies with specialized workers?

[–]Lithuim 124 points125 points  (30 children)

Worker ants are specialized drones and will usually not survive long separated from the main hive.

Bees can fly several miles on their daily foraging and would probably return home, provided they can figure out which direction its in.

[–]Sneac 55 points56 points  (29 children)

bees ALWAYS know what direction to go.

Altho they can become confused as they age.

[–]Lorpius_Prime 189 points190 points  (12 children)

Your supporting evidence for the statement "bees ALWAYS know what direction to go" is an article explaining that some bees can become lost.

I'm really not sure what to think of that.

[–]BroadwayJoe 32 points33 points  (2 children)

This is a case of the exception that proves the rule. Although maybe "ALWAYS" was a bad choice of words.

[–]ropers 25 points26 points  (0 children)

For some value of ALWAYS.


Also, to clear up any confusion, the exception here refers to the act of excepting, not the thing excepted.

[–]thegreysquirrel 8 points9 points  (4 children)

Bees ALWAYS know what direction to go, most of the time. Better?

[–]Forever_Awkward 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Not quite. It's my understanding that bees know which direction to go when it comes to flowers and their hive based on the position of the sun when they find a food source. Does the article give enough information to imply that this means they'll know where they are if they are forcefully removed from that environment, as you are now implying?

[–]NowTheyllNeverKnow 1 point2 points  (2 children)

60% of the time.........


... it works every time.

[–]AquaSuperBatMan 0 points1 point  (4 children)

As far as i know, bees store very simple landmark based maps in their tiny brains. This means that they can usually find their way back from a place where they flew to themselves. That is because they were able to build a continious map from home to where they are now by flying here in the first place. And now they can follow it back.

If.bee was not able to look around much while hitching the ride for couple of miles, in all likelihood it will be lost.


I believe it's actually directional based on the magnetic poles if I remember correctly. They actually do a little "dance" with each other in the hive to communicate what direction and how far a good source of water/pollen is.

[–]awestruckshoe 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I thought they used the sun to navigate.


That may be true, I know birds are highly sensitive to the magnetic field, I thought I read somewhere that bees are as well.. but I may be mistaken. They definitely use a dance to communicate though, that I am certain about.

[–]aidrocsid 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Apparently that direction is to a pile of their corpses up against my back windshield. For some reason they seem to sneak back there though and I've not seen a single living one in the vehicle.

[–]Sneac 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I suspect they are attempting to get back to where they came from ... the general direction of the backside of the car. As for not seeing them, I remember as a kid playing this prank: if you cup them in your hands so they're in the dark they will patiently sit on your palm until it gets light again. So I used to smuggle them into class to be a little shit.


Oh man, what a wonderfully simplistic life that sound like. Even though insects and smaller creatures do not live as long, the simple natural progression of things makes their lives seem like pure heaven. Consider a Mayfly. It's only living function is to reproduce in a mas swarming orgy and then die. Even the male Black Widow and Preying Mantis spider is cool with facing his own death at the hands of his mate as long as they reproduce.


[–]Seruz 16 points17 points  (10 children)

Mantis only do that in captivity, never seen in nature

[–]morganmarz 3 points4 points  (8 children)

I'm gonna need a source on that. Never heard otherwise and this could potentially shake my world.

[–]InfintySquared 19 points20 points  (6 children)

Easily found by googling 'Mantis myth.'

[–]morganmarz 4 points5 points  (5 children)

Well how about that. Thanks!

[–]rderekp 5 points6 points  (4 children)

Though the source does note it is true of one species that requires the head to be removed to ejaculate.

[–]Smiff2 1 point2 points  (3 children)

How does something like that evolve? You'd think males who can come with thier heads on, would be at a big advantage, in terms of being able to mate more than once.

[–]shaynethecoker 2 points3 points  (1 child)

They still reproduce. It is a misconception to think evolution only produces advantages for creatures. The males still reproduce despite losing their heads, so natural selection does not act against that trait.

[–]jestax 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is probably earliest point in each species that it can be killed without affecting evolution.

[–]Seruz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Best i could find in the timeframe, i'm going out - i might find something more solid later.

[–]khedoros 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Praying mantis spider?

[–]Sin2K -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

You're forgetting the myriad of insects that lay eggs in other insects... Fuck everything about that.

[–]Inappropriate_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"so it'll be fine."


[–]chrono13 24 points25 points  (6 children)

Additional question: Specifically a hive insect, like a bee. One was in my side view mirror and I moved it at least 5 miles away. Was it lost, or was it likely to find its way back to its hive?

[–]Sneac 15 points16 points  (5 children)

[–]__redruM 0 points1 point  (4 children)

A compass doesn't help you if you don't know which way home is. A bee that was flying a mile east of his home, get stuck in your grill and ends up a mile west from home. If he's just using a compass, he will fly a mile west from your car and then start to panic.

[–]Sneac 0 points1 point  (3 children)

correction: no magnetics, just the motion of the sun. Assuming a steady internal clock, there's no reason why a long car trip would cause a healthy bee to become lost, given the complexity of their understanding of the star's relative motion.

[–]__redruM 0 points1 point  (2 children)

No inertial guidance right? So a car ride would be very disorienting. More than likely as good as dropping the bee off in a random location.

Navigating by sun alone without a map and initial position is useless, especially for an insect.

If the bee rode on the hood facing forward like a hood ornament, and could judge speeds above normal bee maximum speed. Then maybe, but still unlikely.

[–]Sneac 0 points1 point  (1 child)

hmm, I'm not sure there is a 'random position' for bees. With an innate knowledge of where the sun should be, as long as their internal clock runs true, they will always know their relative position to their hive, no matter where they're inserted.

Any entymologists care to chip in?

[–]__redruM 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If a bee has a complete internal map of their range, and they could locate themselves on that map using visual cues, then there wouldn't bee a random position inside their range. I didn't see that in your linked article. An innate knowledge of the Sun's position doesn't help if you don't know what direction home is.

[–]sgtfl 65 points66 points  (12 children)

Ok, taking this question in the opposite direction here... I live out in the boonies in central Texas, and many times I have driven into the nearest city (80 mi round trip) with katydids clinging to my truck. The funny thing is I can spend all day there, but the katydids won't leave the vehicle until I return home. Whats up with that?

[–]CommanderpKeen[S] 21 points22 points  (9 children)

I'd also like the know the answer to this one. I had to Google "katydid," as I've never heard of them before.

[–]khedoros 4 points5 points  (0 children)

They sound like this, and they're a little like cicadas: you hear them all around, but you don't see them much. (I'm not trying to say that they're similar animals, aside from that)

[–]GreenTeam 2 points3 points  (5 children)

Aka tettigoniidae or bush-crickets.

edit: Posted from mobile originally, but I didn't do it right, so I submitted a feature request to /r/AlienBlue so it never happens again to anyone else.

[–]IAmYourTopGuy 6 points7 points  (1 child)

You need to have http:// before your link for it to work.

[–]GreenTeam 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I need to submit a feature request to /r/AlienBlue when I'm sober "to automatically add "http://" if it's not included in a link or proper formatting options."

[–]past0037 1 point2 points  (1 child)

[–]GreenTeam 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thanks, I posted it from my phone, i had doubts it would work in alienblue, I should probably submit a bug or feature request to them.

[–]sgtfl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that's them. Still, anyone have an explanation for that behavior?

[–]scoops22 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mayflies stick to windshields. link

[–]__redruM -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Are they nocturnal? What's a katydid?

[–]rieldealIV 8 points9 points  (4 children)

Somewhat related, what if you drive a long way with a bee's nest on your car (say 100ish), do all the drones that weren't in the hive just sort of die, unable to reach their home?

[–]MyNameIsFuchs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Insects actually travel very far distances:
"The Billion-Bug Highway You Can't See":

[–]antarcticgecko 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) actually spread this way through the Southern US. They were introduced in Mobile in the late 40's an steadily expanded their range, partially from queens hitching rides on long haul trucks. This gave them a free ride through terrain that was unfavorable and impassable under normal travel.

[–]warpaint -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Same question, but with alligators.