Can Bees See Colors?

on July 13, 2012

Bees’ eyes are equipped with different kinds of receptors than humans.

Bee Vision

Image courtesy of Monash University, http://www.futurity.org/science-technology/flowers-‘optimized’-colors-for-bee-vision/

Bees’ eyes are equipped with different kinds of receptors than humans. This is a reconstruction of how a bee would see a yellow flower.

Scientists believe that bees can see colors! Sadly, some of these scientists do not believe God created the earth. They say everything in the world came into being by chance, taking millions of years to develop. These scientists have concluded that bee vision evolved before attractive flower petal colors evolved. They think bees developed special vision and this caused flowers to evolve more attractive petal colors.1 But is this true? What does the Bible tell us about bees and flowers?

God created plants on Day Three of Creation Week (Genesis 1:11-13), before He created insects on Day Five. God created flowers first and designed their colors to appear attractive to the bees He would later create, so that the flowers would be pollinated by the bees and reproduce. God designed the bees to have special eyesight that would draw them to flowers. God says that everything He created was very good, and we can certainly see that as we learn more about the harmonious relationship between flowers and bees!

To learn more about bees, please see:

  • Buzzing Past Computers
  • Creeping, Crawling Critters that Show God’s Amazing Creativity!
  • Honeybees—Always on the Move
  • A Sweet Revelation
  • 1 Elizabeth Mitchell, News to Note, June 23, 2012, Answers in Genesis, http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2012/06/23/news-to-note-06232012#one