Dipping tongues allow bees to drink the sweetest nectar

US mathematicians have worked out why the flowers pollinated by bees have sweeter nectar than those visited by butterflies.

When it comes to drinking nectar, the most important factor is whether the insects dip their tongue in, or whether they suck the liquid up.

The sweeter the nectar, the thicker it is, and research found that the dipping method of bees is ideal for drawing up the most viscous liquid.

They published their results in PNAS.

By making mathematical models that take into account how the thickness, or viscosity, of nectar changes with increasing sugar concentration, the researchers were able to find out what feeding method was best for drinking nectar with varying sweetness, testing the idea that plants and their pollinating insects have co-evolved.

It has been seen in the past that the flowers that bees visit have consistently sweeter nectar than those that butterflies target, but scientists have been unsure of why this is the case.   Read More

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