To put it another way, our criteria for assessing animal emotions should be blind to whether the animal has fur, feathers or an exoskeleton. Either bees and other invertebrates get a trial membership in the club of the genuinely anxious, or we must concede that our beloved pets’ seemingly pessimistic actions imply nothing about their feelings. For a smitten dog owner, at least, the choice is probably obvious.

12 Comments

1. 1. Carlyle in reply to IC 01:55 AM 12/27/11

   What is more, during hard times, they are kicked out of the hives & never having been taught to fend for themselves, they starve.

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2. 2. Carlyle 01:59 AM 12/27/11

   Any beekeeper can tell you, they most definitely experience moods. 99% or more are frustrated females by the way :).

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3. 3. Kymii 10:49 AM 12/27/11

   Imagine that!A living breathing creature has emotions lol ...Humans never cease to amaze me with their superiority complex.

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4. 4. Elegia 11:08 AM 12/27/11

   Ah, the tiny note in the abandoned hive may now be deciphered.
   
   "Tired of the queen replacement thing. So long, & thanks for all the pollen."

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5. 5. Elegia in reply to Kymii 11:09 AM 12/27/11

   Well said! :)

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6. 6. David N'Gog 12:15 PM 12/27/11

   The typical argument against animal emotions is that we can't prove their actions are not evolved response systems.
   
   Using that logic, we've never actually proven that humans have emotions.
   
   I know I have them- but how do I know that everyone else just doesn't have evolved response systems.
   
   That said, it IS easier to recognise that animals more similar to ourselves have emotions than those dissimilar- and perhaps this skepticism is a correct response- we shouldn't make assumptions that two distantly related organisms behave the same way.
   
   I do hope we all will try to be good to all animals though. Give them the benefit of the doubt- that they could, and probably do have emotion- even bugs.

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7. 7. IR2D2 12:22 PM 12/27/11

   Check out this app to learn why bees and insects are critical for the plant lifecycle
   http://bitly.com/vfUWTU

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8. 8. tharter in reply to David N'Gog 12:24 PM 12/27/11

   Yeah, basically it boils down to the whole "what is consciousness" question. Probably not something that can ever be addressed by any type of logic or observation. In fact I would say that these types of questions lack validity.
   
   All we can probably ultimately say is that our own theories of mind have some level of applicability to bees etc. Not really surprising as other posters have said.
   
   More interesting questions might be to what degree we share the same neurophysiology in this regard. That kind of information has real utility.

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9. 9. Carlyle in reply to Carlyle 07:25 PM 12/27/11

   The first two posts have been deleted. Without one of them, my first post does not make sense. The deleted post referred to the drone bees. The male bee. The fact that they have no status or duties was jocularly referred to.

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10. 10. cogitabundus 05:38 AM 12/28/11

    "The stress of shaking had turned them into pessimists that interpreted the ambiguous odor as half threatening rather than half appetizing." Was it really affective stress or some physiological stress/disorientation like vertigo that makes one uninterested in, or perhaps even unable, to fully sense and approach pleasurable stimuli? When I emerge from the whirling carnival ride, is that the same affective state as when I am worrying about my responsibilities, relationships, survival, etc.? The result of the carnival ride may be stress insofar as my sensory experience and neural correlates have been altered, and I'm having a different, uncomfortable, experience. That seems to be a different experience than the affective anthropomorphic pessimism/stress that this article wonders about our little friends of all kinds having. Does that make sense?

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11. 11. tharter in reply to cogitabundus 09:14 AM 12/28/11

    I think the question would be how long it lasts. Maybe also what happens when you subject bees to other stresses or repeated stresses.

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12. 12. verdai 06:30 PM 1/4/12

    O Fine, -
    the things that have emotion(s) are growing in numbers among men.
    my tree and my stone also have them, but not the same way: something like the wind.
    

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