About this item
For many of us, the buzzing of a bee elicits panic. But the next time you hear that low droning sound, look closer: the bee has navigated to this particular spot for a reason using a fascinating set of tools. She may be using her sensitive olfactory organs, which provide a 3D scent map of her surroundings. She may be following visual landmarks or instructions relayed by a hive-mate. She may even be tracking electrostatic traces left on flowers by other bees. What a Bee Knows: Exploring the Thoughts, Memories, and Personalities of Bees invites us to follow bees' mysterious paths and experience their alien world.. Although their brains are incredibly small - just one million neurons compared to humans' 100 billion - bees have remarkable abilities to navigate, learn, communicate, and remember.
About the Author
Stephen Buchmann was born in Rockford, Illinois and grew up in the chaparral-covered hillsides of Orange Co., California. An avid bug watcher since the 3rd grade, Buchmann turned his early passions (raising butterflies from caterpillars, collecting fossils, photography) into his adult career as an entomologist and pollination ecologist. His travels have taken him to most of the USA states, throughout Mexico, to Central and South America, to Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. He kept honey bee colonies for their amber honey during High School and later, and watched native bees buzz pollinate nightshade blossoms in Tonner Cyn. near his home. He earned degrees in biology and a doctorate in Entomology (UCD) . As an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona he continues his studies of bee behavior and pollination. His book "The Forgotten Pollinators" (with Gary Paul Nabhan) was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His children's book "The Bee Tree" (with Diana Cohn) was a Skipping Stones Honor Award Book, and "Honey Bees: Letters from the Hive, A History of Bees and Honey" is an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book. Stephen's latest book is "The Reason for Flowers: Their History, Culture, and Biology, and How They Change our Lives" (Scribner, 2016) . He lives in the saguaro-filled Sonoran Desert landscapes of Tucson, AZ where he watches native bees nesting or foraging, often pointing his camera toward fiery sunsets or local wildflowers.
