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Bumblebees can teach each other how to score goals with a tiny ball, displaying a learning ability never before seen in insects.
The bees surprised scientists at Queen Mary, University of London, by working out how to use a novel tool to obtain a food reward simply by watching their neighbours.
In the experiment, the bees were placed on a platform and had to roll a yellow ball to a specific location - or "goal" - in order to obtain a sugar solution.
They were given two types of training, either watching a previously trained bee "score", or being shown the ball that appeared to move on its own with help of an unseen magnet.
Insects that observed the success of other bees were better at learning the task than those given the "ghost" demonstration.
"Our study puts the final nail in the coffin of the idea that small brains constrain insects to have limited behavioural flexibility and only simple learning abilities." – PROFESSOR LARS CHITTKA, PROJECT LEADER
Source. (iTV News, London)
The bees surprised scientists at Queen Mary, University of London, by working out how to use a novel tool to obtain a food reward simply by watching their neighbours.
In the experiment, the bees were placed on a platform and had to roll a yellow ball to a specific location - or "goal" - in order to obtain a sugar solution.
They were given two types of training, either watching a previously trained bee "score", or being shown the ball that appeared to move on its own with help of an unseen magnet.
Insects that observed the success of other bees were better at learning the task than those given the "ghost" demonstration.
"Our study puts the final nail in the coffin of the idea that small brains constrain insects to have limited behavioural flexibility and only simple learning abilities." – PROFESSOR LARS CHITTKA, PROJECT LEADER
Source. (iTV News, London)