Bumblebees Just Did Something Scientists Have Never Seen Before

• More than 70% of tested bumblebees figured out how to move a ball beneath an elevated food source and climb onto it to access a sugar reward.

• Scientists say the behavior represents the first confirmed case of spontaneous problem-solving in an invertebrate without prior training.

• The findings add to mounting evidence that bees can learn, remember, plan and develop novel solutions despite having tiny brains.

Bumblebees can independently figure out how to use objects as tools to solve problems, providing some of the strongest evidence yet of sophisticated cognition in insects, a new research has found.

Researchers discovered that buff-tailed bumblebees could use small balls as makeshift stepstools to reach a sugary reward placed on an otherwise inaccessible artificial flower. The insects were never taught this solution, suggesting they can generate novel strategies when faced with unfamiliar challenges.

The findings were published June 4 in Science by a research team led by scientists at the University of Oulu in Finland.

Bees Used Balls as Ladders to Reach Food

To test the bees’ problem-solving abilities, researchers first familiarized them with two basic concepts: that balls were movable objects and that a blue ring signaled a food reward.

The bees were then placed inside plexiglass arenas where a blue ring containing sugar solution was positioned on the ceiling, beyond their reach. A small ball was left on the floor.

More than 70% of the bumblebees figured out how to move the ball beneath the blue ring and climb onto it to reach the reward. Importantly, the insects received no demonstrations or training on how to use the ball as a tool.

First Evidence of Spontaneous Problem-Solving in an Invertebrate

The researchers say the study provides the first evidence that an insect can spontaneously use a tool to solve a completely new problem.

“Spontaneous problem-solving is something that has never been shown in any insect before,” said Olli Loukola, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Oulu and one of the study’s authors.

While similar behaviors have been documented in animals such as chimpanzees, parrots and crows, those studies often involved species with extensive prior experience performing cognitive tasks. The researchers noted that the bumblebees had never encountered this particular challenge before.

Bees Appeared to Work Toward a Goal

To determine whether the insects were simply acting randomly, researchers increased the difficulty of the task by placing the ball and reward in separate sections of the arena.

The bees had to remember where the reward was located before retrieving and positioning the ball. Many continued to complete the task successfully despite the added complexity.

The researchers said the results suggest the insects were working toward a specific objective rather than stumbling upon the solution through trial and error alone.

“There was not much room for trial and error or playfulness,” co-author Akshaye Bhambore said. “They had a goal in their mind and were able to understand the nature of the task.”

Growing Evidence of Bee Intelligence

The findings add to a growing body of research suggesting that bees possess surprisingly sophisticated cognitive abilities despite their tiny brains.

Previous studies have shown that bumblebees can learn from one another, recognize patterns, and even acquire complex behaviors through social learning. Researchers have also demonstrated that bees can learn to move balls into designated targets to obtain rewards after observing other bees perform the task.

The new study extends those findings by showing that bees can generate a novel solution independently rather than merely copying behavior.

Researchers Plan Further Investigation

Researchers now want to better understand how bees arrive at these solutions.

Because the experimental setup did not allow for detailed behavioral tracking, scientists could not determine whether the insects experienced a sudden insight comparable to an “aha” moment in humans.

Future experiments using slow-motion cameras and advanced video analysis may help reveal how bees process information and solve unfamiliar problems.

The researchers say the findings challenge long-standing assumptions about the cognitive limits of animals with relatively simple nervous systems and raise new questions about how intelligence evolves across species.