The bees that can learn like humans

Scientists have long accepted the existence of animal culture, be that tool use in New Caledonian crows, or Japanese macaques washing sweet potatoes.

One thing thought to distinguish human culture is our ability to do things too complex to work out alone — no one could have split the atom or travel into space without relying on the years of iterative advances that came first.

But now, a team of researchers think they’ve observed this phenomenon for the first time outside of humans, in bumblebees.

[polkadot]

I noticed their extreme social intelligence several years ago. Some bumblebees tried to force me to help them despite the fact that I was a stranger.

[smedleyx]

Regarding lifespan vis-a-vis culture, I recently found out that common tarantulas in California can live upwards of twenty years, and so I wouldn't rule out arachnids evolving a culture; they certainly seem far more perceptive than they first appear. I've been treating local insects and arthropods as I would sentient vertebrates, ever since I started interacting with wasps, and their rather astonishing intelligence has been well-documented (Tibbetts et al). Now, it always makes my day to be around and handle stinging insects I once feared. I'm convinced there's something profound soon to be revealed with these invertebrates despite having few "brain" cells.

[guy]

I had for some reason never considerd that animals don't "just know" what to do as they are born, I always found it weird how instincts could produce sometimes quite complicated behaviour - but never thought "maybe it doesn't"

[shivang]

Bumblebee are smart except when it comes to orchids

[CRMcGee]

Humans are not the only creatures that can solve puzzles.
We have examples of dogs, cats, squirrels and birds solving complex puzzles without training.

[jeffreyjuran]

re. a bee's capability to learn and act "it" out: awakening one early morning, under a simple lean-to tarp on a hillside in CO (fifty years ago), a large/chunky bee flew into my space and alighted place to place to place, I would say about four to six times. Projecting my thoughts at the time, and still now - he must have felt "trapped" and/or frustrated in being so, so in order to get out, appeared to reverse all its several steps or pathways that had brought it to that last position under my tarp/lean-to, in reverse order! it seemed to me at the time, and then... flew off. Bon Voyage 🙂 Far from a purely instinctual animal, as so many were thinking of such primitive creatures at the time.

[TTTT]

It's a bit outdated to think humans are the only ones....

[rogerio]

Or...
The humans that can learn like bees.
🤔🤔🤔🐝

[ubqt]

It would be interesting to test if once the learned bee meets other untrained bees in isolation, would those untrained bees be able to solve the puzzle by themselves?

[SusanAmberBruce]

I don't know, I thought the study was a bit of surface! They didn't talk about the vast communication interface bees have on a chemical level or the hive mind, surely these factors would be part of the whole learning process?

[footfault]

It's we who behave like them, to be more precise! They did it before us. That's simple!!

[hunterGk]

The history of the study of animal behaviour is the story of us repeatedly underestimating the intelligence and complexity present in other beings. Why do we start from the standpoint that they have none of the qualities that humans have, and then have to fight to prove the existence of those qualities? That smells strongly of religious exceptionalism to me; the more scientific approach - at least since the discovery of evolution by natural selection and then genetic studies that show all life evolved from a common ancestor - would surely be to assume that non human animals would be mostly like us, rather than mostly different?

[--Paws--]

I wonder what other bee or even insect can this research be trained on.

[GiacomodellaSvezia]

Worth a read: "Darwin's unfinished symphony", by Kevin N. Laland

[ApprendreSansNecessite]

In no part of the video do we see a single bee completing the puzzle from start to finish though

[footfault]

They may say, "congrats human, at last! It took some time to get at we're smarter than appear! More to come!"
Yes, new technologies are revealing what have long been in front of us are now brought to our notice with new aspect! More to come!

[czernm]

Yes, all animals (latin anima, soul) are like humans. They have intelligence.

[rabbaniazzahra]

now do it with ants, i wanna see an ant university

[kwokfonglo]

Could the learnt traits be "inherited" to next generations thru genes ? (i.e., say, something like we observed in the experiments with E-Coli in late 70's?

[Dan-dyzp]

By implication, in time, through evolution, our abilities to do things we now accomplished through consciousness could become instinctive, eliminating our need for our current level of intelligence all together.