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Research suggests playing wasps | CTV News

A first study shows that wasps play with objects just for fun, like humans or dogs.

According to research evaluated by a team at Queen Mary University of London and published in the journal Animal Behavior, bumblebees seem to spend time playing with wooden balls to enjoy.

The researchers wrote in the paper, “We found that rolling the ball does not contribute to immediate survival strategies that are intrinsically rewarding, distinct from formal, repetitive functional behavior. non-stereotypical and started under stress-free conditions.”

This leads them to believe that what they are witnessing is animal play.

HOW MY EXPERIMENTS WORK

The researchers initially conducted many experiments involving bumblebees trained to roll balls for food rewards. In previous research, researchers found that bees sometimes seemed to play with balls for no reason, even when there was no reward.

They then tried another experiment, in which the researchers observed wasps looking for some way to get around their food rewards, stopping to play with wooden balls.

The study involved putting 45 bumblebees into an “arena” and giving them the options to either go directly to the dining area or take a detour to reach the wooden balls. Many bees chose the balls first, apparently for no other reason than pleasure.

The bees chose the balls first, rather than food, 1 to 117 times.

WHAT THEY HAVE DISCOVERED?

In another observation, 42 bumblebees were entered into the blue and yellow chambers and one of the colored chambers contained the balls inside.

The researchers then removed the wooden balls and discovered that the bees had chosen the chamber that once contained them, suggesting they might have expected to find the balls still inside.

Research also shows that young bumblebees continue to play for longer than older ones, and evidence suggests that bees can feel positive about playing with objects.

When it comes to gender differences, the study found that male bumblebees rolled wooden balls for longer periods of time than females.



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