Bumblebees have more complex cognitive capabilities than we ever knew... and they can play sports
Scientists have been forcing bees to play sports. Although some sports fanatics (Hi, Dad) would think that's a step in the right direction and a valuable use of scientific funding, the study actually aimed to measure bumblebee brains, not bumblebee brawn. And the results were impressive.
Dr. Olli J. Loukola, a behavioral ecologist at Queen Mary University of London, showed bees how to roll a ball into a "goal" to get a sugary reward, then let the fuzzy observers attempt to mimic the sporty task. Interestingly, most bees who observed a shadow "athlete" (a hidden magnet) score didn't become sports stars. They couldn't grasp the behaviour. But a few of the fast learners did. Then once the gifted bee performed the task for the others, the observers caught on. Social intelligence and peer cues are kind of a big deal in the bee community. Not only did the spectator bees score almost every time after the expert bee provided a demonstration, they did it more efficiently and showed him up. They all chose a ball closer to the goal, even when it was a different color than the coaching ball. It's unclear if there was any trash talk or showboating following the tiny victory. "The bees solved the task in a different way than what was demonstrated, suggesting that observer bees did not simply copy what they saw, but improved on it," says Loukola. "This shows an impressive amount of cognitive flexibility, especially for an insect."
Aside from the fact that the little jocks are essentially using tools to yield a reward, like primates, marine life and even birds have been known to do, their surprising cognitive prowess could affect the way we assign merit to invertebrate intelligence. And potentially how we measure smarts in general. Loukola claims, "the idea that small brains constrain insects is kind of wrong, or old-fashioned." He says the learning abilities of animals without big vertebrate brains often get severely underestimated.
By charging bees with uncommon tasks, ones they're unlikely to experience in nature, their behavioural flexibility is challenged, and improved upon. Ultimately, when environmental factors dictate a need for resourcefulness, the cognitive limitations of bees are less narrow than we've assumed. "It may be that bumblebees, along with many other animals, have the cognitive capabilities to solve such complex tasks, but will only do so if environmental pressures are applied to necessitate such behaviours." offers Loukola. The study could better our understanding of the mind and the way we rate learning ability, intelligence and brain size. Professor Lars Chittka, project supervisor and co-author of the report makes an even bolder claim: "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." It also may inspire you to download a brain boosting app or at least keep up with your crosswords and sudoku puzzles.
Correlation to brain size and cognitive ability has long been a point of contention in the scientific community. As recently as 2006, one scientific study "proved" that men were smarter than women based on relative brain mass. To say the scientific claim was controversial is something of an understatement. Many scientists and journalists challenged the data. Brain size may have little to do with intelligence or we'd all have been taught long division by a blue whale. Also, Einstein's brain wasn't any bigger than yours or mine. To put it mildly, our brains don't fully understand our brains just yet. So the debate will rage on.
But the bee study does prove one thing. Bumblebees are better at sports than I am.
Marc Beaulieu is a writer, producer and host of the live Q&A show guyQ LIVE @AskMen.