Insect Communication and Intelligence

Are insects automatons? Some people might think so, but, in fact, insects are capable of some remarkable cognitive processes that we normally attribute exclusively to vertebrate organisms. Insects can learn colors, sounds, locations, and times of day. They can navigate using a compass (the sun), and they can communicate in remarkably complex ways. Probably the most striking form of insect communication occurs in honey bees, which employ a complex dance language that conveys, distance, direction, quality and even the elevation of a food source. We will trace the evolutionary origins of the dance language in bees and see a film on insect learning.

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