Gooooal! Bumblebees Learn to Play Soccer

D-brief
By Carl Engelking
Feb 24, 2017 12:00 AMNov 19, 2019 9:53 PM
bumble-bee.jpg

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news
 

A bumble bee hard at work spinning a ball toward its goal. (Credit: Courtesy Clint Perry, Queen Mary University of London)If scoring a goal is the only way to earn a sugary treat, a bumblebee will summon its inner Messi. Indeed, rolling a ball into a goal—soccer, sort of—is the latest puzzle solved by Bombus terrestris

after training with scientists/bee trainers at Queen Mary University of London. In October, scientists from the same lab—the Chittka Lab—taught bees to tug strings for treats. There are no plans to start a traveling carnival; instead, scientists are pushing bees’ to their cognitive limits to learn how complex behaviors arise from minuscule brains.

0 free articles left
Want More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

0 free articlesSubscribe
Discover Magazine Logo
Want more?

Keep reading for as low as $1.99!

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

Stay Curious

Sign up for our weekly newsletter and unlock one more article for free.

 

View our Privacy Policy


Want more?
Keep reading for as low as $1.99!


Log In or Register

Already a subscriber?
Find my Subscription

More From Discover
Recommendations From Our Store
Stay Curious
Join
Our List

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

 
Subscribe
To The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Copyright © 2024 Kalmbach Media Co.