Bumblebees Learn to Play Soccer in Weird Study! (And Then They Teach Their Friends Too!)

Today I want to talk about a very interesting study I just came across in which researchers taught a bunch of bumblebees how to roll a mini-ball and even score goals with it! Since it took me what seemed like ages to teach my dog how to sit I think this is quite an impressive feat!

The study I am talking about was published in the journal Science about 8 months ago [2]  and it clearly shows that bees, despite their small brain, are quite smart, capable of learning complex and "unnatural" skills. 

"Our study puts the final nail in the coffin of the idea that small brains constrain insects to have limited behavioral flexibility and only simple learning abilities." said Professor Lars Chittka and co-author of the study [1]

Bumblebee rolling a ball (Iida Loukola)

The Experiment

First, here's a video to get a better idea of the experiment:

As you can see, the bees were required to move a ball to a specific location. When successful, they were rewarded with some tasty drops of sugar solution. Various methods were used to train the bees.

Some bees observed a model demonstration, others received a "ghost" demonstration (ball moved with a magnet) and some received no training, they simply found the ball at the center with the sugar solution already there. Later on, some bees were trained by other already-trained bees, showing that the skill can be passed on naturally.

The bees trained by a live or model demonstration where the ones with the highest success ratio. But what was most impressive is that the bees didn't simply copy-paste the behavior but actually improved on it! For example, some bees that were initially trained to move the ball that was the furthest away from the goal later started to move the one that was closest, while others moved a differently colored ball than the one they were familiar with.

"The bees solved the task in a different way than what was demonstrated, suggesting that observer bees did not simply copy what they saw, but improved on it. This shows an impressive amount of cognitive flexibility, especially for an insect." said Dr Olli J. Loukola, leading author of the study.

The takeaway

This study builds on previous research showing that bees (and some other insects) are capable of solving a range of cognitive tasks like pulling levers or strings to get a reward. However, most of these tasks examined in the past "have analogs in bees’ natural foraging routines,, and bees might perform well at them simply because the learning processes involved might be used in tasks encountered by bees naturally." [1]

I guess the main takeaway from this study is that bumblebees can learn, improve and pass complex cognitive skills. Something that until very recently we believed only animals with more "advanced" brains can do, like dolphins, primates and certain birds. 

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References

1. Sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170223142100.htm
2. Science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6327/833

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