a group of researchers From Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), England, they made a rather unusual discovery: bees They are able to play and have fun, which suggests that fun can also be part of the experience these little creatures experience.
To reach this conclusion, behavioral ecologist Samadi Galpayage and colleagues created a kind of playground for 45 yellow-tailed Bombos terrestris bees. In the space, they can walk straight to the dining area or veer through an obstacle course with small wooden balls mounted on one side and furniture on the other.
According to a report from the portal Science alert, before each insect rolled its first ball, they showed an equal preference for each trajectory. Once the scrolling started, most of them repeatedly chose to enter the marble area.
Each bee moved the balls up to 117 times during the entire experiment, and most continued playing for a day or two after there was no longer food in the space. Additionally, the research found that the young bees rolled more balls.
“This again shows that despite their small brains, they are more than just small robotic creatures,” Galbridge said. “It’s surprising, and sometimes fun, to see bees showing something like play,” added the ecologist and first author of the study.
Experiments with drones
Alongside this test, Galpayage and his team trained 42 drones to attach a ball bearing to a colored chamber, and later offered the option of two different colored empty chambers. The bees couldn’t see what was inside the room, but several chose the color they attached to the balls.
In this experiment, the preference for rolling the ball was not related to the area reaching the food. It was also not related to mess cleaning or mating, indicating that the preference was for the act of playing itself.
“This research provides a strong indication that insect brains are much more evolved than we might imagine,” said Lars Chittka, another behavioral ecologist at QMUL. “We are producing ever-increasing amounts of evidence supporting the need to do everything we can to protect insects millions of miles away from the mindless, unkind creatures traditionally thought to be.”
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