Effects of Nectar Property on Compensated Dipping Behavior of Honey Bees with Damaged Tongues

In nature, bees with damaged tongues are adapted to have a feat in collecting nectariferous sources in a large spectrum of concentrations (19%–69%) or viscosities (10 –3 Pa·s to 10 –1 Pa·s); however, effects of nectar property on compensated dipping behavior remain elusive. Combining the bee tongue anatomy, high-speed videography, and mathematical models, we investigate responses of honey bees with damaged tongues to fluidic sources in various properties. We find that, bees with 80% damaged tongues are deprived of feeding capability and remarkably, the dipping frequency increases from 4.24 Hz to 5.08 Hz while ingesting 25% sugar water when the tongue loses 0–30% in length, while declines from 5.08 to 3.86 Hz in case of 30% damaged tongue when sucrose concentration increases from 25% to 45%. We employ the energetic compensation rate and energetic utilization rate to evaluate effectiveness of the compensation from the perspective of energetic regulation. The mathematical model indicates that the energetic compensation rate turns higher in bees with less damaged tongues for ingesting dilute sugar water, demonstrating its capability of functional compensation for combined factors. Also, the tongue-damaged bees achieve the highest energetic utilization rate when ingesting ~ 30% sugar water. Beyond biology, the findings may shed lights on biomimetic materials and technologies that aim to compensate for geometrical degradations without regeneration.