According to a recent NPR article, a scientist tested the problem-solving skills of bumblebees, and his findings were mind blowing.
Clint Perry, a cognitive biologist at Queen Mary University of London, presented bumblebees with a puzzle that they’d never encounter in the wild.
The researcher and his team built a platform with a ball sitting at the edge of it. The bees needed to roll the ball in order to attain a reward: sugar water. Bees who couldn’t figure out how to get the reward learned to perform the task after a demonstration.
Clint summarized:
It wasn’t monkey see, monkey do. They improved on the strategy that they saw. This all shows an unprecedented level of cognitive flexibility, especially for a miniature brain.
Bees are incredibly smart. In fact, they can count and even make decisions by weighing uncertainty.
Now more than ever, scientists are exploring the intelligence of insects. Of particular interest are bumblebees, whose population is declining.
This study just goes to show that there’s much more to the animal kingdom than we think.
All animals deserve a life free of harm. By adopting a compassionate vegan lifestyle, you can help create a world where humans coexist peacefully with other beings.
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