Honey bees have surprisingly good eyesight

Honey bees have surprisingly good eyesight, according to new research out of Australia -- much better than previously thought.

"Bright daylight and dark laboratories are two completely different environments," researcher Steven Wiederman said in a news release. Bees have thousands of photoreceptors, each of which is affected by light intensity.

"We found that in the frontal part of the eye, where the resolution is maximized, honey bees can clearly see objects that are as small as 1.9 degrees -- that's approximately the width of your thumb when you stretch your arm out in front of you," explained researcher Elisa Rigosi. "This is 30% better eyesight than has been previously recorded."