...Lars Chittka; Jürgen Tautz SUMMARY Bees returning from a feeder placed in a narrow tunnel that is lined with a chequered pattern will strongly overestimate travel distance. This finding supports the view that their distance estimation is based on integrating optic flow experienced during flight...

... on a high building (50 m) that fly to a feeder on the roof of another high building (34 m) signal a much shorter distance than the actual distance flown. We propose instead an ‘optical flow hypothesis’: bees use the speed of retinal image motion perceived from the ground to estimate the distance flown...