To me, it seem ridiculous to call this "the first clear example of tool use in honeybees". I actually think there must be some big misunderstanding somewhere.<p>The argument is that by taking animal dung and coating the entrance they are "taking something and manipulating it to shape their environment", which they think qualifies as tool use.<p>But we've already known for ages that bees gather sap from trees and coat the inside of their hives with it (propolis), to seal gaps and prevent bacterial growth. I cannot think of any reasonable definition of tool use that would include dung coating but exclude sap coating.<p>Ctrl+f of "sap" and "propolis" in the original paper gave 0 results.<p>Edit: Upon further reading, they seem to define a tool as a "a non-plant solid", which seems specifically tailored to make dung the first tool. The fact that they fail to mention propolis even once in the paper to highlight what they think is the important difference does not impart confidence.
A little off topic, but something I've been pondering a lot lately is the relationship between eusociality (the colony structure you find in bees, ants, terminates, and 2 known mammal species) and intelligence. We can clearly see a difference between an ant or an ant colony and a human being, so the eusocial behavior cannot really be defined as intelligent. And in insects, the behavior is biological, not learned. And the interesting behavior is exhibited by the entire colony, not the individuals themselves, yet the idea that the colony has a mind is really not supported by our understanding of what a mind is. Yet outward traits of eusocial colonies and intelligent creatures are eerily similar in many ways. What gives?
I'm curious about the process (smearing dung on the hive entrance) leading to the result (giant hornets don't enter). There has to be <i>some</i> creative thinking there. How else could the connection been made?
Not the only insects using poop. How about dung beetles:<p>[1] <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/fascinating-facts-about-dung-beetles-1968119" rel="nofollow">https://www.thoughtco.com/fascinating-facts-about-dung-beetl...</a>
a first? not so sure about that. What is propolis if not a tool? The little bugs dig out tree sap, mix it with saliva, and plug up holes in their homes to keep out cold and bugs and we have known about it forever. It's in our hippy shampoo and cosmetics!