Bumblebees exhibit surprising teamwork skills, Finnish study shows

And that’s pretty amazing for a number of reasons.

We know bumblebees as diligent pollinators. But there is more, Finnish scientists show in the magazine Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Bumblebees are also good at teamwork.

To cooperate
The researchers base these conclusions on experiments. In these experiments, bumblebees were trained in pairs each time. Several bumble bees learned that they had to push a Lego block aside to get a mate. Other pairs learned that they had to push a door together to get a prize at the end of a tunnel.

Teamwork
The researchers managed to get the bumble bees to work together in this way. A huge success in itself, indeed. “Our results show for the first time that bumblebees can learn outside their hive to take on new tasks that require cooperation,” said the person -researcher Olli Loukola.

To wait
But things got even more interesting when the researchers set up a second experiment, in which the couples were separated. One bumble bee was held for a while, and its cooperation partner was sent towards a Lego block or the closed door at the end of the tunnel. Surprisingly enough, the bumblebees released on the Lego block or the closed door – which had previously moved the Lego block or opened the door with a friend – did not start working immediately until the to receive an award. Instead, they hung around and often did not start pushing a Lego block after their cooperation partner joined them. And when they were released into the tunnel with the door closed at the end, they often turned around before reaching the door and only flew back to the door as quickly as they saw their delayed partner flying towards them. In other words: the bumblebees seemed to be waiting for their cooperation partner.

Control group
It’s the opposite of what researchers saw in the control group. This included bumblebees that were trained to move Lego blocks or open doors on their own. When these bumblebees were placed individually to a Lego block or door, they – unlike the bumblebees that learned to work together – immediately started working to get the reward.

Social influence
It shows that the presence, absence and flight direction of the cooperative partner influenced the behavior of the bees that had learned to cooperate. “It shows that cooperation among bumblebees has a social effect and is not just driven by individual efforts,” Louloka concluded.

The research also tentatively suggests that bumblebees that work together tailor their behavior to what their cooperation partner is doing and therefore that cooperation is coordinated. there But more research is needed to draw that conclusion, Louloka warns. “Whether bumblebees really understand their partner’s role requires more research where their behavior is observed more closely while working together.”

Amazing
The fact that bumblebees are able to cooperate at all is remarkable for several reasons. It is surprising that the small insect brain enables cooperation, says Louloka. “The results of the study challenge the current view of insects by showing that even the small brains of bumble bees enable them to work together towards a common goal.” is also surprising that bumblebees are able to cooperate, because in the wild bumblebees usually work alone and sometimes even seem to ignore their congeners. It raises the question why they still have the ability to work with other people of their own kind. In their study, the scientists raise the possibility that the ability to cooperate and understand a creation of the role that a cooperative partner can mysteriously play in the animal kingdom, as it increases the chances of survival.For example, cooperation can be useful or even necessary at certain times in the life of organisms. For example, when food is scarce or there is danger. Organisms that are able to combine would have an advantage so the ability to work together – even for organisms that normally do everything on their own – could be beneficial still from an evolutionary point of view.

Future research should therefore reveal whether bumblebees – and other invertebrates – have a better understanding of the role of their cooperative partner in a cooperative task. complete Researchers are also curious if bumblebees could cooperate based on a common intention. Previously, researchers suggested that chimpanzees and perhaps other great apes were able to work together for the same goal. However, it is not clear whether species that are more distant from humans are also capable of this. A greater understanding of this is important, as it can ultimately give us a better picture of how our ability to work together has improved.