Study: Bumblebees sniff out nectar

LONDON, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Bumblebees are able to sniff out the flowers with the most pollen and then spread the word to other bees in their hive, researchers in England have found.

The scientists at Queen Mary, University of London say they have learned bumblebees carry the smells back to their hives to inform other members of their colony which flowers have lots of nectar.

Unlike their cousins, the honeybees, bumblebees do not communicate through "waggle dances" to give information about food sources to members of their hive, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

"Bumblebees tend to live in environments where there are lots of different species of flowers spread over a wide area," said biologist Nigel Raine. "The amount of nectar and pollen produced by each of these flowers will change day by day and hour by hour, so finding the best supply of food is a challenge."

Raine's team discovered the bumblebees' ability to teach their nest mates about smells in a series of experiments by training bees to seek out anise scented flowers.

"When the bumblebees leave the nest they search for nectar-rich flowers with the same smell. It was thought that pheromones released by the successful foraging bees may help in this learning process, but we found it doesn't improve their learning," he said.