Make a beeline for it: Bumble bees can use a tool to solve a task without specific training
Summary author: Mahathi Ramaswamy
A new study shows that bumble bees can position a ball underneath a fake “flower” to reach a reward, suggesting that they might have the cognitive flexibility necessary to solve complex problems. Akshaye Bhambore and colleagues demonstrated through a series of experiments that bees succeeded at this task even when the flower was out of sight during the test, reflecting goal-directed behavior independent of 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,” they write. Prior research has focused on how nonhuman primates and birds use tools or objects to adapt to challenges. By contrast, it has been unclear whether invertebrates can solve problems without explicit training. Here, Bhambore et al. investigated whether bumble bees could roll a ball into a pit and climb onto it to reach a reward on the ceiling. The researchers first pretrained the bees to associate a blue ring (representing a flower) with a sugar reward and to recognize that a Styrofoam ball inside the arena could be moved around. Bumblebees with prior experience with both the flower and ball (but not the problem task) were more successful at reaching the reward than controls who had either partial or no exposure to either object. The authors next included barriers that hid the flower from sight and later added a third condition in which bees could first explore the arena and then choose between locations to access the hidden flower. Some bees were motivated to roll the ball even when there was no reward present. However, most bees that succeeded at the task rolled the ball to the correct location without attempting the wrong site first, indicating that their decision was not made via trial and error. Further research could help pinpoint the decision-making process that underlies this behavior in insects.
Journal
Science
Article Title
Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees
Article Publication Date
4-Jun-2026
Bumble bees show spontaneous problem-solving in study published in Science
Researchers from Finland demonstrate “box-and-banana”-style problem-solving in insects.
video:
Movie S4. Task solution in Experiment 3. This movie shows a bee solving the task in Experiment 3. The beginning of the video (habituation phase, without the ball present) is shown at accelerated speed. Following habituation, the arena is briefly illuminated with red light (not visible to bees) while the ball is placed between two visually occluding compartments. During the test phase, the bee moves the ball toward the side behind which the flower is located, positions it beneath the flower, climbs onto the ball, and contacts the flower on the arena ceiling. Video: Olli Loukola / University of Oulu.
view moreCredit: Video: Olli Loukola / University of Oulu
In a new study bumble bees solved a completely novel object-manipulation task. What makes this behaviour especially remarkable is that the bees had never been trained. The findings challenge the long-standing assumption that spontaneous problem-solving is restricted to humans and other large-brained vertebrates.
More than 100 years ago, psychologist Wolfgang Köhler famously showed that chimpanzees could solve novel problems by suddenly combining objects in new ways, such as stacking boxes to reach an out-of-reach banana. These experiments became some of the earliest and most influential demonstrations of insight and spontaneous problem-solving in animals.
Now, researchers from the University of Oulu, the University of Helsinki, and the University of Turku in Finland report strikingly similar problem-solving abilities in bumble bees.
In a new study published in Science, bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) solved a completely novel object-manipulation task without being trained on the solution itself. The bees first learned that a blue artificial flower signalled reward. During the test, the flower was moved to the ceiling of a transparent arena, out of reach. To access it, the bees had to spontaneously generate a novel solution by moving a ball underneath the flower and climbing onto it, a behavioural sequence they had never previously encountered or been trained to perform.
“This is essentially an insect version of the classic ‘box-and-banana’ problem,” says senior author Olli Loukola, Docent at the University of Oulu. “The animal must realize that an object can be repositioned and then used as a tool to reach an otherwise inaccessible goal. What stands out about the result is that this kind of spontaneous problem-solving is now demonstrated in an insect.”
“What makes this behaviour especially remarkable is that the bees had never been trained to roll the ball. This was a completely new challenge. Their behaviour appeared goal-directed with successful individuals showing more directed movement patterns,” says lead author Akshaye Bhambore from the University of Oulu.
Several control experiments to rule out simple explanations
The bees were not trained to move the ball underneath the flower. Instead, they only learned two separate pieces of information beforehand: that the blue artificial flower contained reward, and that the ball was a movable, non-threatening object.
When tested in a completely new situation, many bees used their prior experience with the flower and the movable ball in a way that went beyond the behaviours they had been trained to perform.
“Another important aspect is that our bees were fully naïve,” Loukola adds. “In many previous studies of insight-like problem-solving, the animals have had extensive experience with objects, test environments, or other problem-solving tasks. Here, the bees had never been trained to use the ball to reach the flower, and they had no previous experience with this kind of solution. We also designed the experiments to rule out simpler explanations such as accidental success, play behaviour, trial-and-error learning, or direct visual guidance.”
Importantly, the researchers designed several control experiments to rule out simpler explanations based on accidental solve or direct visual guidance.
In the more demanding tasks, the flower was hidden from the bees while they moved the ball, preventing them from simply steering toward a visible target. Even under these conditions, bees successfully moved the ball to the correct location.
“By analysing the bees’ behaviour across unusually stringent control experiments, we could show that they were not simply reacting to visual stimuli or moving the ball randomly,” says lead author Bhambore.
Watching the experiments unfold was often surprising even to researchers
“One moment the animal is exploring seemingly without direction, and the next it performs a highly efficient sequence of actions leading directly to the solution,” says co-author Ece Nur Akmeşe from the University of Helsinki. “Watching the bees solving the task was genuinely fascinating.”
The study builds on growing evidence that bees possess surprisingly sophisticated cognitive abilities despite their tiny brains. Previous research has shown that bees can socially learn tool use, solve puzzle-like tasks, cooperate with one another, and flexibly adapt their behaviour.
However, the researchers emphasize that the findings do not imply human-like reasoning or consciousness in insects.
“We are not claiming that bees think like humans,” says Loukola, who currently works as a Senior Researcher at the University of Turku. “But our findings show that miniature brains can generate flexible solutions to novel problems in ways we are only beginning to understand.”
The results suggest that spontaneous, goal-directed problem-solving can emerge in animals with brains vastly smaller than those of vertebrates traditionally studied in insight research.
“For over a century, spontaneous object-based problem-solving has mostly been studied in vertebrates,” says Loukola. “Our study suggests insects may belong in that conversation too.”
The new study titled “Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees” by Akshaye A. Bhambore, Ece N. Akmeşe, Emma Häkkinen, Milla K. Jussila, Juha-Heikki Kantola, and Olli J. Loukola was published 4 June 2026 in the prestigious Science journal.
Learn more: Bumblebees use Lego blocks to build science and recognise the value of teamwork
A bumble bee standing on a ball beneath the artificial flower containing reward, illustrating the experimental solution. Image: Mikko Törmänen / University of Oulu
Credit
Image: Mikko Törmänen / University of Oulu
Journal
Science
Article Title
Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees
Article Publication Date
4-Jun-2026
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- Bumble bees show spontaneous problem-solving in study published in Science
(University of Oulu, Finland)
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