Bees are anything but one-trick ponies. Most notably, they pollinate plants, build hives, and feature complex social systems. And now, thanks to a recent study, we've learned that bees feature tongues akin to "Swiss army knives." Researchers at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, discovered this by subjecting bees to varieties of honey with different viscosities. For over a century, humans have known that bees "lap" up honey with their hairy tongues, in and out, in and out. The insects dart their hairy tongues into syrupy honey. The tongues then flare 10,000 tiny bristles that scoop out the honey as the tongues are retracted, at which point the fluid is sucked down by a pumping mechanism in the bee's noggin. But the Chinese researchers observed the bees use a new technique: sucking, as if through a straw. When presented with runnier honey, the bees opted to simply slurp instead of flick their tongues in and out. It's a shock to researchers, who have long assumed that insect mouths and other appendages uniformly have single uses. Instead, it seems even nature's littlest guys pack their fair share of tricks. Personally, I'm unimpressed with our six-legged neighbors' new gimmick. Until I see one of them use their tongue to tie a cherry stem, my mind is fixed!

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More about this Curio:
The New York Times: "A Honeybee's Tongue Is More Swiss Army Knife Than Ladle"