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Do Bees Play Ball?
RICHARD RICKITT/BEECRAFT MAGAZINE
JUST FOR FUN: Bees rolling colorful balls during a study about play
Bees like to have fun, just like people do. That’s according to a groundbreaking new study conducted by biologists at Queen Mary University of London in England.
The researchers presented 45 bumblebees with two options: follow a passageway to a tasty treat or take a detour to a room full of colorful wooden balls. Over and over again, the bees chose the balls, which they’d push around with their legs. Some individuals visited the “playroom” as many as 117 times!
Play is an enjoyable activity that has no clear survival benefit, says Samadi Galpayage, a biologist and the study’s author. Rolling the balls had no immediate reward for the bees—yet the insects kept doing it. That led the team to conclude that the bees were playing.