Switching perspective: Comparing ground-level and bird’s-eye views for bees navigating clutter

Animals navigating in three dimensions encounter different perspectives of their world, often transitioning from bird’s eye views at higher altitudes to frog’s-eye views closer to the ground. How they integrate this information to pinpoint a goal location is virtually unknown. Here we tested the ability of bumblebees to use both types of views when homing in a cluttered environment. Our combined modelling and experimental approach examined various views for goal location in cluttered settings. Whereas, bird’s-eye views performed best in simulations of current snapshot homing models, behavioural experiments revealed that bumblebees predominantly relied on frog’s eye views when pinpointing nest entrances in cluttered environments. These findings reveal the limitations of snapshot-homing models and suggest that bumblebees use a combination of navigational tools to successfully find their way home in cluttered environments. This is not only relevant for understanding bee movements, but also for other animals and humans navigating in 3D as well as the development of technologies inspired by natural systems, such as autonomous flying robots.