, June 15 -- Honey bees are much more skilled at navigation than previously believed, with new research showing that individual bees follow their own preferred flight routes and repeat them with impressive precision using landmarks in the environment.

Researchers at the University of Freiburg tracked honey bees flying between their hive and a food source about 120 metres away and found that each bee consistently used nearly the same path on every trip.

The study was led by Andrew Straw, whose team used a drone-based tracking system to observe the insects in a natural agricultural setting.

To monitor the bees, researchers attached tiny reflective markers to them and used a technology called Fast Lock-On (FLO) Tracking. The system enable...