Bumblebees get a buzz out of playing with balls, study finds
Research shows bees rolling wooden balls despite having no apparent incentive to do so
Bumblebees are associated with lives of work rather than play, but researchers have for the first time observed the insects playing with balls for enjoyment, just like humans and dogs.
A team of UK scientists watched bees interacting with inanimate objects as a form of play and said the findings added to growing evidence that their minds are more complex than previously imagined.
Lars Chittka, a professor of sensory and behavioural ecology at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), said bees were “a million miles from the mindless, unfeeling creatures they are traditionally believed to be”.
She added: “There are lots of animals who play just for the purposes of enjoyment, but most examples come from young mammals and birds. This research provides a strong indication that insect minds are far more sophisticated than we might imagine.”
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/oct/27/bumblebees-playing-wooden-balls-bees-study
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Bees ‘count’ from left to right, study finds
Latest finding adds to theory that animals, including humans, naturally arrange things in a certain order, even without being able to count
Bees order numbers in increasing size from left to right, a study has shown for the first time, supporting the much-debated theory that this direction is inherent in all animals including humans.
Western research has found that even before children learn to count, they start organising growing quantities from left to right in what has been called the “mental number line”.
However the opposite direction has been found in people from cultures that use an Arabic script which reads from right to left.
“The subject is still being debated between those who think the mental number line has an innate character and those who say it is cultural,” said Martin Giurfa, a professor at the Research Centre on Animal Cognition at Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/27/bees-count-from-left-to-right-study-finds
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I find studies like this incredible.