Bumblebees are Remarkable Learners, Especially if Treats are Involved

Bumblebees may have tiny brains, but this doesn't mean they're incapable of learning great things. According to two studies conducted by researchers at the University of Guelph, if a tasty treat's involved, they can learn quite a bit.

For the first study, researchers found bees capable of solving increasingly complex problems. For instance, when the insects were presented with a series of artificial flowers that required challenging strategies, such as moving objects, to gain the sugar syrup reward, they found that many bees were able to navigate increasingly complex flowers in order to find treats located in more difficult to access flowers. 

"Bees with experience are able to solve new problems that they encounter, while bees with no experience just give up," said Ph.D. student Hamida Mirwan, who was involved in the study, via a press release. 

For the next study, researchers found that bees learned by watching and communicating with others in a social learning environment. They used artificial flowers with sugar syrup on the bottom. For several days, the bees foraged on the artificial flowers, until they grew accustomed to the feedings.

To test whether they could specifically learn from others, Mirwan confined the inexperienced bees to a mesh container near the artificial flowers where they could also observe the experienced ones.

As bees were allowed to forage freely, the study shows that it took around 70 seconds for them to get the reward. However, the control bees who had not observed the experienced ones were unable to access the syrup.

In the final portion of their studies, Mirwan placed experimental bees in with naïve bees. When the naïve bees were allowed to forage for the artificial flowers, they were able to find the syrup in approximately 3.5 minutes.

Researchers note that though this says something in particular about the way bees communicate, their complete means of communication at this time is still unknown.

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More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Animal Cognition.