Bees Navigate to Flowers Using Electric Fields

Flowers work hard to attract pollinators. They dress up in their best colors, give off sweet aromas, and produce gobs of bright pollen. But there’s even more going on beneath the surface. Flowers give off an electric charge, allowing bees to locate the ripest flowers. 

As they fly through the air, bees build up a small positive electric charge, while flowers tend to carry a slight negative charge. It’s similar to the charge you accrue when shuffling across the carpet in socks. That difference creates a tiny electrical attraction between them, helping guide bees toward blooms that are rich in nectar and pollen. Scientists have even found that bees can detect subtle changes in a flower’s electric field, allowing them to tell whether another bee has recently visited and drained its nectar.