Bumblebees Solve Complicated Puzzles

A study conducted by scientists has shown that bumblebees can use objects in their surroundings to solve a complicated puzzle. The end results showed that even though bumblebees have small brains, they can still do more work than expected.

A century ago, a scientist studied chimps and the way they worked together as a team. He hung a banana on a tree, too tall for the chimps to reach, and he placed some twigs and boxes to build with. Later on, the chimpanzees decided to stack boxes and climb on top and grab the banana. “The chimps realized that they could use the boxes to solve a problem they’d never seen before,” News For Kids says.

Scientists call this kind of behavior “insight,” where an animal uses their surroundings to get what they want.

“A behavioral ecologist at the University of Turku in Finland wondered whether bumblebees — short-lived creatures with minuscule brains — might be capable of the same task,” NPR reports.

First, the scientists decided to put a foam ball in an arena for the bees. The roof was designed to be too high for the bees to touch, and the arena was small so the bees could not fly. The ecologists put a blue dot on the top of the arena, filled with sugar and other sweet liquids. This was an incentive for finishing.

They used baby bees as test subjects, because they had no experience of the world and other obstacles like the puzzles. Their goal was to reach the blue dot. Most of them finished the first puzzle by standing on top of the ball to reach the goal.

A second puzzle was created, but this time the blue dot was out of sight. The scientists made a maze, and the bees had to push a ball forward so they could move. Around 80% of the bees finished, and they finished the puzzle with the end being the blue dot.

The research shows that bumblebees are smarter than we thought, and that they can use their brains to compute a puzzle.