From: Barry Birkey <barry@birkey.com>
Date: Sun, 04 Nov 2001 14:09:07 -0600
To: <BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: Keeping Bees Happy

Hello Baboo -

> Excuse me, but animals do talk. Whales, elephants, and many others in
> addition to the primates.

Animals do not talk. Specifically bees. They communicate through various
other means (sight, sound, smell). My point was to say that bees do not have
the capacity to transcend their limitations as animals and carry on a
conversation with us. If they were "like" us and "intelligent" as us, one
should expect them to be able to talk with us.

>Primates may not be able to vocalize in the same
> way as humans, because of a different physiology, but they can sign and use
> computers.

Computers that man had the where-with-all to create. Primates can be trained
to do certain things. Just like my dog.

> Actually, the octopus
> has the greatest problem solving ability (one of the most accurate gauges of
> intelligence) of any animal. They cannot develop simply because of their
> short life spans.

They're that smart yet they haven't been able to figure out how to lengthen
their lives any. Hummm. We seem to be talking an awfully lot about animals
other than the honeybee.

> Bees not only evolved to know what to
> look for, but I believe they teach each other about these things.

.... in a bee sort of way.

Regards,
Barry