Proof that Golf really is the Bee’s Knees???
Fancy 18 holes with a partner who might just sting you if you win? Researchers have released experiment results that suggest bees are clever enough to understand the game of golf.
The team at Queen Mary University of London has tested the intelligence of bees by teaching them a “golf like” game. Using a circular wooden platform the researchers cut out a small hole in the centre of the wood and filled it with a sugar solution. The bees were then trained to move a small ball into the hole for the sugary reward.
Using a plastic bee attached to a stick the team demonstrated what the insects needed to do. Amazingly the bees caught on quite quickly and even illustrated that they don’t just blindly follow what the bee before them did. Proving they are capable of adapting to get a quicker or better result. They didn’t even have an issue when the colour of the ball changed!
“The old-fashioned view is if an animal has a small brain, it’s not intelligent or smart,” says Olli Loukola, one of the authors of the study. “Our study shows it’s not true that small brains are not capable of this kind of cognitive flexibility.”
Check out the experiment for yourself below:
