Are bumblebees as smart as chimps? A new problem-solving experiment makes the case - CNN

- Bumblebees rolled a ball under an out-of-reach flower and climbed on it to access a reward, according to new research.

- The insects solved the novel problem spontaneously without training, demonstrating what scientists call insight or spontaneous problem-solving.

- The finding suggests tiny insect brains can support surprisingly flexible behavior that was previously observed only in apes, elephants and some birds.

German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler set up a famous experiment more than 100 years ago that changed how scientists understand animal intelligence and the power of insight — or spontaneous problem-solving.

Köhler made what he described as a playground for a group of chimpanzees with a banana hanging out of reach and various items — boxes, poles and sticks — lying around. The strewn objects offered opportunities for the animals to explore, and the food presented a challenge for them to unlock. After fruitlessly trying to snatch the banana, the chimps quickly started rearranging the items. The apes eventually stacked the boxes and easily grabbed the reward.

The experiment demonstrated that chimps were capable of insight. While most animals can do basic problem-solving, insight is a step up because it’s an understanding of cause and effect that does not rely on trial and error, copying others, or previous knowledge. Scientists have observed this cognitive ability in only a handful of species: great apes, elephants and some birds. There is an ongoing scientific debate over whether even more species — invertebrates such as octopuses and certain spiders — should also join the ranks of the spontaneous problem solvers.

Now, a study published Thursday in the journal Science suggests that bumblebees possess insight. In a lab experiment, the insects were able to roll a plastic foam ball underneath an artificial blue flower, climb over the ball and use it to reach the flower, obtaining a sugary reward. “We showed for the first time that bumblebees can solve a completely novel object-manipulation task, spontaneously and without being trained to do so, or without any trial and error,” said lead author Akshaye Bhambore, a doctoral researcher at the University of Oulu in Finland.

Bumblebees can use socially learned behaviors and logical reasoning to solve puzzles, previous studies have shown. In the new experiment, however, the researchers exposed the insects to the separate elements of the task but never trained them on the solution itself.

This result suggests that a tiny insect brain can support surprisingly flexible behavior, according to James Nieh, a professor in the department of ecology, behavior and evolution at the University of California San Diego, who was not involved with the study. “Bees do not normally move objects around to make platforms, so this is not a natural bumble bee behavior,” he wrote in an email. “But the experiment shows that they can remember a hidden goal location and manipulate an object in relation to that goal.”

This exciting new study shows that insects can learn and change their behavior in ways scientists are only just starting to understand, Natalie Hempel de Ibarra, an associate professor of neuroethology at the University of Exeter in England, said in an email. Hempel de Ibarra was not part of the research. This flexibility could shape how bees and other pollinators interact with flowers, helping them cope with challenges as environments and landscapes change, she added.

Getting the ball rolling

The researchers built a circular arena about 10 centimeters (4 inches) in diameter and 3.2 centimeters (1.3 inches) tall, in which bumblebees could walk but not fly. In the center, the team placed an artificial blue flower containing a sugary solution and let the bees explore it. Nearby, the scientists placed a small foam ball to familiarize the insects with the object and demonstrate that it wasn’t a threat.

A second scenario presented a different challenge: The ball now covered the blue flower, and the insects successfully pushed it away to access the reward. In a third and final scenario — the one designed to test insight — the team moved the flower from the floor to the ceiling, just above one of four pits shaped to accommodate the ball. A majority of the bees that had been exposed to the first two scenarios — 75% of them — managed to roll the ball to the correct pit and climb on it to access the flower.

Scientists are cracking the code of interspecies communication. Is that a good thing?