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June 13, 2026, 02:20:45 PM Last Edit: June 13, 2026, 02:26:43 PM by AribertDeckers
13.6.2026
Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees


https://x.com/ScienceMagazine/status/2065611217201181166

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Science Magazine @ScienceMagazine

A new Science study shows that bumble bees can position a ball underneath a fake "flower" to reach a reward, suggesting they can exhibit spontaneous problem-solving and challenging the notion that such advanced cognitive abilities are exclusive to large-brained vertebrates.

Learn more: https://scim.ag/4vvcNwr

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3:44 AM · Jun 13, 2026
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Well, well, well... The thing with the ball does not hang as high as people think. Bumblebees are builders. They live in trees and just right down in the soil, where they organize their spaces. For that they have to move things. So, moving things is one of their tasks. They can do it because evolution put that into their firmware. It is NOT a matter of thinking, it is a matter of doing.

Bumblebees are poor little fellows. Just some biological robots, but quite capable ones.


https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady1618

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    Home
    Science
    Vol. 392, No. 6802
    Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees

Research Article
COMPARATIVE COGNITION

Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees

Akshaye A. Bhambore https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8593-3231, Ece N. Akmeşe https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5829-004X, Emma Häkkinen https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4740-6167, Milla K. Jussila https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1798-7943, Juha-Heikki Kantola https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2325-5785, and Olli J. Loukola https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9094-2004Authors Info & Affiliations

Science
4 Jun 2026
Vol 392, Issue 6802
pp. 1046-1049
DOI: 10.1126/science.ady1618
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Editor's summary

Recent research has revealed that bumble bees are much more cognitively advanced than previously thought: They play with balls, count, recognize faces, and even feel rhythm. However, it has not been shown that they could achieve one of the highest peaks of cognitive performance: the ability to spontaneously solve a problem. Bhambore et al. tested this ability by providing bees with a ball that could be used as a tool to reach an otherwise unreachable flower reward. Bees that had been allowed to play with a ball and experience the flower spontaneously learned to move the ball to access the flower when they were present together. —
Sacha Vignieri


Abstract

Problem-solving using novel solutions without explicit training is often considered a hallmark of cognitive flexibility. We investigated whether bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) could solve a novel object manipulation task spontaneously. Bees trained to associate a blue ring ("flower") on the floor with a reward successfully moved a ball underneath a flower relocated to the ceiling to reach the flower. In control experiments in which the flower was out of sight when ball movement began and remained hidden during transport, bees still succeeded in the task. These results suggest that these were goal-directed actions rather than reinforcement-based associations driven by 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.


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References and Notes
1
W. H. Thorpe, Learning and Instinct in Animals (Methuen, 1956).
Google Scholar
2
W. Kohler, The Mentality of Apes (Harcourt Brace, 1925).
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3
C. H. Turner, The behavior of a snake. Science 30, 563–564 (1909).
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Web of Science
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4
J. Kounios, M. Beeman, The cognitive neuroscience of insight. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 65, 71–93 (2014).
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