Could a Bee Pick You Out in a Police Line-Up?
Given the size of its brain, could a honeybee recognize a specific human face? And if a bee could recognize specific human faces, how would the evolutionist explain this kind of ability?
Researchers who study honeybee and human vision point out that there would have been no evolutionary pressure for bees to learn to recognize specific people. The scientific prediction would therefore be that bees would not recognize human faces. To test this prediction, researchers placed pictures of human faces above bee-feeders. The same human face was always above the feeder that dispensed a sugar solution. A variety of other faces were placed above feeders that dispensed, say, quinine, a bitter-tasting solution. The bees quickly learned to associate one particular human face with the sweet solution. Even when researchers shuffled the feeders around, the bees quickly homed in on the sugar feeder with the familiar face. Then they removed the feeders and left only the pictures for the bees to find. Eighty percent of the time, the bees still focused on the face that had been on the sugar feeder. Evolution would predict random results; that is, the pictures of faces would have no effect.
However, our powerful Creator could be expected to give bees any abilities He wished. In this case, He apparently saw a good purpose to give bees this unexpected ability.