It is interesting to step away from the human experience and try to grasp what other creatures on this planet experience. Apparently, bees and other insects are immersed in smell.
Insects live in a hidden world of scent.
”That’s the dimension in which they function,” says entomologist Gregory Wheeler of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Fort Lauderdale. “It’s one of the most important modes they use to find one another, to find host plants, places to nest. And it’s entirely hidden from us. We’re all receiving this signal, but we’re not paying attention to it.”
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“They have a greater sense of smell than we have, and they’re even better than our best electronic chemical instruments. They are five times more sensitive.”
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While Dudareva says she doesn’t know how flowers initially solved the problem of mixing compounds to attract just the right pollinator, she is sure about this: “It’s about reproductive success. If they can’t attract a pollinator, they will be eliminated by evolution.”
