A genius evolutionary mimic of developing a decoy female bee to attract males hoping to mate with the ‘inanimate female’, but instead the males end up pollinating the flower free of charge! Unfortunately, the exact bee species required to pollinate this particular orchid doesn’t exist in the UK, so the orchid has now adapted to pollinate itself.
A plant being able to outwit an insect is truly phenomenal.
A plant being able to outwit an insect is truly phenomenal. Humans misinterpret intelligence as a primate-centric computational capacity, rather than a discrete super-complexity intimated by Maynard-Smith in the Theory of Games.
Best wishes
FFON. Unveiling Nature’s Challenges, Inspiring Conservation’s Future. 
3 responses to “Bee orchids: a plant being able to outwit an insect is truly phenomenal.”
Truly fascinating.
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Dear Simon, I love Chris Middleton’s super photo and description. So much in a small compass ! My Haps piece on the other hand got too long, so it’s now in two parts, with pictures in both parts – only one of them taken by me. The attachment is Part 1, which I hope you’ll like. Part 2 will arrive in a few days. As Helen would tell you, beware of encouraging me about Haps ! Very best wishes, Valerie
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😂
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