Busy as a bee? Think again

A German zoologist is saying what every beekeeper secretly knows: bees aren't that busy at all. Professor Randolf Menzel, a neurobiologist and zoologist from the Free University in Berlin, has studied bees for four decades and says:

“Bees are not particularly hardworking. Instead they sleep a lot and are lazy. They spend up to 80% of the night sleeping and even during the day they often fly to the nest where they rest their wings.”

But to compensate for their apparent laziness, Menzel said they were actually very intelligent. He said they were quick learners, were able to recognise various scents and had five memory phases.

See reactions.