Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking. Login or Take a Tour!
How fair is it to say that the colony is the organism? That one should no more worry about individual workers than one does about the individual hairs shed by a furry pet.
briandmyers · 3713 days ago · link ·
Very fair, I'd say. The colony reproduces through swarming, and in many ways the colony behaves as a single, disjoint organism, with the queen acting as brain (i.e. hormone regulator) and also as female reproductive organ; drones bees act solely as the male reproductive organ, and workers provide every other function.
–
Thanks, it's an interesting idea and that article led to content about superorganisms, Daisyworld, and rivet-poppers.