Most people see how bees and flowers go together like peanut butter and jelly. Bees gain nutrients from the flowers and then pollinate the fresh blooms in return, making them a perfect team. Now, a new study has found bees may be attracted to flowers thanks to their electric charge.
CBS News reports scientists from the University of Bristol in England came to this conclusion after running a series of tests involving bees and artificial flowers. Half of the flowers used gave off an electrical charge and had a sugary substance on them, similar to nectar. The other half of the fake flowers did not hold a charge and contained a bitter tasting substance.
After a short period of time the bees started to only visit the flowers with the electrical charge, avoiding the ones without electricity. Next, the researchers turned off the electrical charge to see how the bees would react. During this time, the bees returned to their random pattern of trying out any flower, showing that perhaps, they’re drawn to certain blooms based on their electrical charge, rather than the nectar inside.
Source: Teleflora – Bees may be Drawn to Electrical Charge in Certain Flowers
