Honey bee foragers get cues from dancing nestmates, colony-stores, and the gaping mouths of thousands of developing larvae as they make foraging decisions. But while these social cues give foragers some incentive and a bit of a compass, the true roadmaps for their trips are more solitary. A bee leaving the hive with a vague trajectory relies on immediate cues such as landmarks, colors and scents (flowers are not spending their energy making fragrances for our sake!) to both find resources and make it back home. Bees do not forage in packs, so many of these refinements of foraging once a bee leaves the hive reflect individual decisions and individual acts. What makes a good forager good? And what is the bee thought process while they are on the wing?
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