Researchers from the University College London have discovered that bees have a highly sophisticated visual system that enables them to unravel complex color puzzles.

The researchers, R. Beau Lotto and Martina Wicklein, devised a series of clever experiments that illuminate Plexiglass flowers under different lighting conditions. They first trained bees to visit blue flowers by placing a sugar solution at every blue-lit Plexiglass flower.

Then, removing the sugar solution and adjusting the lighting conditions slightly, Lotto and Wicklein found that the bees still visited the blue flowers, even if the lighting conditions had changed, thus altering the blue color. The bees were still able to identify the blue flowers, indicating they were using relative color to determine the 'bluest' flowers under the given lighting condition.

Find out more: Bees Can Solve Complex Color Puzzles, Study Finds (National Geographic)

Photo © Laura Hastings