A new study shows that bumble bees can position a ball underneath a fake “flower” to reach a reward, suggesting that they might have the cognitive flexibility necessary to solve complex problems. Akshaye Bhambore and colleagues demonstrated through a series of experiments that bees succeeded at this task even when the flower was out of sight during the test, reflecting goal-directed behavior independent of perceptual feedback. “Our findings provide evidence that bumble bees can exhibit spontaneous problem-solving, challenging the notion that such advanced cognitive abilities are exclusive to large-brained vertebrates,” they write. Prior research has focused on how nonhuman primates and birds use tools or objects to adapt to challenges. By contrast, it has been unclear whether invertebrates can solve problems without explicit training. Here, Bhambore et al . investigated whether bumble bees could roll a ball into a pit and climb onto it to reach a reward on the ceiling. The researchers first pretrained the bees to associate a blue ring (representing a flower) with a sugar reward and to recognize that a Styrofoam ball inside the arena could be moved around. Bumblebees with prior experience with both the flower and ball (but not the problem task) were more successful at reaching the reward than controls who had either partial or no exposure to either object. The authors next included barriers that hid the flower from sight and later added a third condition in which bees could first explore the arena and then choose between locations to access the hidden flower. Some bees were motivated to roll the ball even when there was no reward present. However, most bees that succeeded at the task rolled the ball to the correct location without attempting the wrong site first, indicating that their decision was not made via trial and error. Further research could help pinpoint the decision-making process that underlies this behavior in insects.
Science
Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees
4-Jun-2026