Bumblebees Have Solved an Intelligence Test and Surprised Scientists
It's generally accepted that spontaneous logical thinking is the preserve of creatures with large, complex brains: humans, primates, or, at a pinch, crows. However, a large-scale experiment by biologists from the Finnish Universities of Oulu, Helsinki, and Turku, the results of which were published in the journal Science, has forced the scientific community to reconsider the ambitions of "higher" species. Ground bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) have proven that brain size is far from the primary indicator of ingenuity.
Scientists decided to replicate the classic "box and banana" cognitive test on insects, which a century ago demonstrated the intelligence of chimpanzees. The chimpanzee then figured out how to stack boxes on top of each other to reach a high-hanging fruit.
The conditions were adapted for bumblebees. An artificial blue flower filled with sweet syrup was attached to the ceiling of a transparent chamber—it was impossible to fly or reach it from the floor. A small, lightweight ball was placed nearby. The bumblebees were not previously trained to roll objects or shown a ready-made solution. They were simply given the idea that the flower is tasty and the ball moves.
What happened next astounded the researchers. The bumblebees didn't randomly bang their heads against the walls. Instead, they demonstrated genuine insight (what psychologists call "insight"). The insects purposefully rolled the ball precisely under the suspended flower, climbed onto it like a stepladder, and calmly drank the nectar. Moreover, when the scientists made the task more difficult and turned off the light so the bumblebees couldn't see the flower, they still rolled the "nightstand" to the right spot from memory, guided solely by their internal plan.
This experiment officially shattered the centuries-old vertebrate monopoly on spontaneous thought. It turns out that the miniature nervous system of insects is capable of forming highly complex behavioral chains and finding solutions to situations they've never encountered in the wild. So next time you spot a bumblebee on a flower, take a closer look—it might be solving yet another logic puzzle right now.
We previously reported that Austrian biologists have proven that cows can consciously use tools.
