Bumble bees have pulled off a classic animal intelligence test, and they did it without being shown how.
In a study published in Science, researchers from the University of Oulu, the University of Helsinki and the University of Turku found bumble bees could solve an unfamiliar object-manipulation task by inventing a new way to reach a reward.
The test used bumble bees, Bombus terrestris, and a blue artificial flower that the bees had already learned contained a reward. Researchers then moved the flower to the ceiling of a transparent arena, out of reach.
To get to it, successful bees rolled a small ball beneath the flower and climbed onto it, a sequence they had never been trained to perform.
“This is essentially an insect version of the classic ‘box-and-banana’ problem,” senior author Olli Loukola, Docent at the University of Oulu, said.
“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.”
Researchers said the bees had only learned two things beforehand, that the blue flower provided a reward and that the ball was a movable, harmless object.
When faced with the new challenge, many combined those earlier experiences in a new way.
“What makes this behavior especially remarkable is that the bees had never been trained to roll the ball. This was a completely new challenge. Their behavior appeared goal-directed with successful individuals showing more directed movement patterns,” lead author Akshaye Bhambore from the University of Oulu said.
The team said it also ran control experiments to rule out simpler explanations including accidental success, play behaviour, trial-and-error learning and direct visual guidance.
In some of the tougher tests, the flower was hidden from view while the bees moved the ball. Researchers said that stopped them from simply steering towards a visible target, but many still rolled the ball to the right place.
“Another important aspect is that our bees were fully naïve,” Loukola said.
“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 behavior, trial-and-error learning, or direct visual guidance.”
“By analyzing the bees’ behavior across unusually stringent control experiments, we could show that they were not simply reacting to visual stimuli or moving the ball randomly,” Bhambore said.
The findings add to evidence that bees show sophisticated cognitive abilities despite their small brains. The researchers said previous studies have shown bees can socially learn tool use, solve puzzle-like tasks, cooperate with one another and adapt their behaviour to changing situations.
The researchers also said the results should not be taken to mean insects think like humans or have human-like consciousness.
“We are not claiming that bees think like humans,” said Loukola, now 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.”
Co-author Ece Nur Akmeşe from the University of Helsinki said the behaviour surprised the researchers watching it happen.
“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,” Akmeşe said.
“Watching the bees solving the task was genuinely fascinating.”
The study, “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 on June 4, 2026, in Science.
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