Bumblebees socially learn behaviour too complex to innovate alone. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38448580/)

These scientists wanted to see if bumblebees could learn a complex task by watching other bees do it. They set up a puzzle box that required two steps to open and get a food reward. The scientists trained some bees to do the two steps and rewarded them. Then, they let other bees watch these trained bees open the box.

The interesting part was that the bees watching didn't get a reward for the first step, but some of them still learned how to do both steps and get the food. This showed that bees can learn from each other even if the task is too hard for them to figure out on their own.

The scientists found that bees could learn from each other in a way that was similar to how humans learn complex things from each other. This study shows that animals, like bees, can also have a type of culture where they pass on knowledge and skills to each other.

Bridges AD., Royka A., Wilson T., Lockwood C., Richter J., Juusola M., Chittka L. Bumblebees socially learn behaviour too complex to innovate alone. Nature. 2024 Mar 6. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07126-4.