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from the honey-that-is-un-bee-lievable dept.
Even tiny brains can learn strange and tricky stuff, especially by watching tiny experts.
Buff-tailed bumblebees got several chances to watch a trained bee roll a ball to a goal. These observers then quickly mastered the unusual task themselves when given a chance, researchers report in the Feb. 24 Science. And most of the newcomers even improved on the goal-sinking by taking a shortcut demo-bees hadn't used, says behavioral ecologist Olli Loukola at Queen Mary University of London.
Learning abilities of animals without big vertebrate brains often get severely underestimated, Loukola says. "The idea that small brains constrain insects is kind of wrong, or old-fashioned."
Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/score-bumblebees-football-insect-social-learning
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @04:52PM (8 children)
Learning abilities of animals without big vertebrate brains often get severely underestimated, Loukola says. "The idea that small brains constrain insects is kind of wrong, or old-fashioned."
Fake News!!!
Stupid Insect Justice Warriors. Always getting worked up over stuff that doesn't matter and isn't true anyway.
If bees were actually smart they wouldn't be dying off. That's how you know they are stupid.
Loukola is probably just a bee herself, trying to keep down real americans!!!
(Score: 5, Funny) by VLM on Monday February 27 2017, @05:05PM (7 children)
Bees work hard and they don't share their honey profits with lazy bears without a fight. Also they're rural and hang out with farmers. Beekeeping seems relatively whiter than average. The average lefty isn't going to like bees, bees are basically really small rural white males and you know how the SJWs feel about those...
I think a better analogy for SJW that is bee related is the dreaded honey badger, they lay around and occasionally steal honey from the productive bees, and if they don't get their handout they trash their own neighborhood.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @05:08PM
triggered
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday February 27 2017, @05:18PM (1 child)
"really small rural white males"
LMAO - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplodiploidy [wikipedia.org]
This link attempts to establish that there are about 4.5 worker bees (females) for each drone (males) - and of course, the queen is female as well. Bees are mostly female, and the males pretty much only serve one purpose in life. Serving the queen is what they are all about.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday February 27 2017, @07:14PM
A white male assuming the gender identity of a persecuted migrant minority in the current year; who ever would have guessed. Its not our place to judge, they can identify as little apache attack helicopters and pollinate whatever feels good. And WRT group politics, the queen of the hive is Not My President (tm).
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Monday February 27 2017, @05:19PM (3 children)
Seems to me like the bees need to rise up and have a revolution of the prolitariate, overthrow the queen aristocracy. Once deposed the hive can live happily ever after.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Monday February 27 2017, @06:09PM
That works for a little while, but then some girl bee wants to use the boys' bathroom, another starts hoarding a lot of honey, and then everyone agrees to blame all their troubles on any bee that doesn't seem to be the right shade of yellow...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @07:38PM
Worker bees can leave.
Even drones can fly away.
The Queen is their slave.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 27 2017, @09:01PM
Actual bee society dynamics are different from a monarchy. The origin of the monarchy analogy is quite old and, in fact, its first enunciation spoke of a king instead of a queen. I don't have sources at hand for this because I merely attended a talk organized by some apiculturists.