Page 104 - The Miracle of the Honeybee

102 THE MIRACLE OF THE HONEYBEE

As can be seen from Dawkins’ faulty logic in reply to this question, it
can only be fantasy to talk about the bee dance in terms of “chance” and
“transition.”
Making use of the Sun to calculate angles is an ability that cannot be ac-
quired by chance. However, it’s not enough for bees to learn to dance or to
be able to calculate angles; they also need the other bees to be able to un-
derstand them. Bearing this in mind, you can see how totally nonsensical
it would be to think in terms of “chance.” No matter how long one might
wait, it’s quite impossible for any creature to form such a calculating abil-
ity of its own accord.
The bee is a creature with no capacity for thought. Nevertheless, as we
have seen throughout, its every action reveals an incomparable intelli-
gence and consciousness. As with every aspect of the universe, this intelli-
gence and consciousness that manifest themselves in bees actually belong
to God, the flawless Creator of all.

The Bees’ Eye

When scientists realized that bees make use of the Sun,
they began researching how they find their way. First of all,
the bee’s eye was examined, and was found to possess a struc-
ture that allows these calculations to be performed.
The worker bee’s eye is a very complex organ with 6,900 facets, known
as ommatidia, each carrying out separate visual processes. Each one of
these acts like an individual eye, and they stand aligned together, rather
like straws in a bucket. Each one ends in a small, convex, transparent
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lens. These lenses form the outer, glassy and oval-shaped surface of the
eye. As well as the two compound eyes on either side of their head, a bee
also has three simple eyes atop its head. It’s estimated that these latter
three are used to measure the strength of the light. The bee’s eye is superi-
or to the human eye in two respects: it can see ultraviolet light and per-
ceive the plane of light polarization. 87
These are the features that let bees determine the location and angles of