Inspite of being just pea-sized, bumblebees are well know for their exceptional organizational dynamics and they’ve once again proved to be the rulers of intelligence by displaying their amazing soccer skills. Biologist Clint Perry, who is currently studying the evolution of cognition in insects at Queen Mary University of London, carried out a series of experiments along with his colleagues in which they taught bumblebees to play “beesoccer”.
The researchers gave bees a task which they’d never encountered in nature. A group of bees were assigned a goal and they had to move a ball (half their size) into their target. Different techniques were used differently on a variety of bees. Some bees figured out the method on their own and ended up winning an incentive, while the others struggled, following which the researchers demonstrated the activity through a controlled magnet. Almost 80% of the bees learnt exceptionally well through demonstration, whereas the rest were given a chance to watch previously trained bees perform the task and this helped them to emerge as the most effective learners. With these various training methods, scientists gained insight on how the bees learnt through the changing conditions of the game.
Felicity Muth, a bumblebee researcher at the University of Nevada, Reno stated that this study helped to signify the fact that the thinking of animals depends on their lifestyle. Muth said that, “Bees learn everyday. They visit thousands of flowers and learn the shapes, textures, patterns and the rewards which the flowers give. Their cognitive powers make them survive in there environment and display themselves as social beings”.
This discovery alienates the assumption of larger animals having stronger cognitive powers and it gives an insight into the intellectual strength of insects. Reports suggest that bees and other pollinator species are being threatened by extinction which poses a danger for human beings as 70% of the world’s food crops depend on pollination.
Can the brilliant cognitive ability of bees help them to survive this future catastrophe? Perry feels that the bees might be able to adapt in smaller ways but when it comes to the larger areas of urban development and pesticide, humans will have to face them and deal with their deadly consequences.
