Bumblebees Demonstrate Spontaneous Object Manipulation in Controlled Experiments

Bumblebees solved an object-manipulation task without prior training by rolling a small ball into a pit and climbing on it to reach an artificial flower placed above, according to a study published in the journal Science in 2026. ady1618, was led by researchers including Olli Loukola of the University of Oulu in Finland.

It is the first time spontaneous problem-solving of this kind has been demonstrated in an insect.

Loukola previously co-authored a 2024 study in which pairs of bees were trained to push a Lego block to the middle of a mini-arena or push against a door at the end of a tunnel to obtain a reward. In the first experiment of the new study, one group of bees learned that the flower provided a sugary reward and that the ball could be moved into the pit, but received no instruction on completing the full task.

A second group learned only that the flower was a reward source, and a third group received no training.

Bees in the first group solved the problem at a much higher rate than those in the other two groups. A second version of the experiment used a barrier with a small opening that blocked the bees’ view of the flower. Sixteen of 22 bees succeeded in rolling the ball through the opening to reach the flower.

When the experiment was repeated with three openings in the barrier, performance showed no significant differences between trained and untrained bees. In a final test, a rectangular arena contained two compartments invisible to the bees. Thirty bees participated.

Twenty-three moved the ball into the correct compartment, and 16 of those 23 did so without first moving the ball into the incorrect compartment. The experimental setups had no way to track the bees’ gaze, posture, or other behavioral cues. “This is an insect version of the classic ‘box-and-banana’ problem,” Loukola stated.

The authors wrote that the present design provides the clearest evidence to date that bumblebees are capable of generating novel, goal-directed solutions.