THE SUNDANCE KID

 

 

Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap,  nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not worth much more than they?”

 

 “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid” was one of my favorite movies.  With the help of their gang these two outlaws removed cash from banks and trains.

 

There’s an even more amazing “Sundance Kid” in the insect world.  With the help of her “gang” this Sundance Kid removes pollen from flowers.

 

When Butch Cassidy and the gang were getting ready for a heist it was critical that Sundance kept those plans under wraps.  Leaking information about the excursion would likely end with all of them in jail or swinging from the end of a rope.

 

Unlike Sundance of the Old West our Sundance wants the world to know everything about her heist.  And I mean everything.  She blabs about its exact distance and direction and even gives you a sample of the smell of the flower.  She wants everyone around her to listen to her story….. and listen they do!  She’s so excited she just feels like dancing….. and dance she does!

 

If you read my previous blog, “Honey, I’m Home” you understand how bees navigate.  If that’s not astonishing enough, honey bees can also communicate pinpoint locations to the rest of the hive.

 

When a honeybee finds a patch of flowers she wants the rest of the crew to work that motherlode alongside her.  On returning to the hive she invites the others to a show.

 

She invites them to a dance.

 

A Sundance.

 

The direction she walks is critical.

The distance she walks is critical.

She even let’s off a pheromone that gives information about the quality or abundance of the food source.  Hey, nothing like a little aromatherapy to get the gang moving!

She compensates for time change, season change and latitude.

 

Stop for a moment to consider all of the mind rattling ramifications of this process.

 

Why would the bee even think to communicate this information in the first place?

Why would it think that the rest of the hive would understand it?

How is it that everywhere around the world all hives speak “bee”?

And of course, how did this incredible “language” come into “bee”ing?

 

But consider that at the same time other members of the hive have to:

Be interested in closely watching the dancer.  Why would they care that some bee is shaking around the hive?

And of course, how is it that they understand this intricate dance?

And how is it that bees that have been in the dark of the hive for hours know what angle to the sun she is dancing?  Okay, that’s cheating.  It’s because those bees have that incredible clock we talked about in the last blog that allows them to automatically and precisely update the sun’s position.

 

So how does this happen?

Here are the options:

 

1. Bees have incredible brainpower.  At some point long ago Noah Webster Bee invented the language.  She taught it to all of the other bees.  They passed it on around the world so that aunt Irene in the Moscow hive and cousin Jacqueline in the Paris hive learned it.  And of course they have to teach all of the “young’uns” of every generation.   Not a lot of pollen gathering going on while this whole process developed.
2.  A mindless set of mutations and natural selection events led the first bee and millions after it to start and perfect a dance for no reason that just luckily was at the correct angle to the sun that was luckily the right distance and they shot off some pheromones for good measure.  At the same time a mindless set of mutations and natural selection events led the first bee and millions more after it to start to watch the dancer and somehow comprehend the intricacy of all that was being developed.  Not a lot of pollen gathering going on while this whole process developed.
3. An all knowing and all powerful God did it.

 

And yes, you are more valuable than the birds….. or the bees!