Next time you’re having trouble solving a tricky puzzle, consider asking a nearby bumblebee.
A new study in the journal PLOS Biology finds that bumblebees can learn certain behaviors from each other, suggesting these social insects have a capacity for what we humans call “culture.”
In the past couple of decades, a growing body of evidence has shown that animals like chimps and birds show behaviors of learning. If what they learn lasts for a long time, it turns into a tradition. And culture is made up of multiple traditions. “Bumblebees, though, have some of the most complex behavioral abilities, nobody’s really thought to look at culture in such insects and generally assume they’re mostly driven by inborn factors instead,” says Alice Bridges, a behavioral ecologist at Anglia Ruskin University in England.
To prove them wrong, Bridges built a puzzle box, whose base held the reward: a drop of super sweet sugar water. The box was designed with a rotating (旋转) top that can be rotated by pushing either on a red tab clockwise or a blue tab anti-clockwise. Some bees were trained to push the red tab to get the sugar water while others pushed the blue one. Then, these tutor bees were placed inside different colonies (蜂群), along with the puzzle boxes.
The experiment ultimately played itself out. In colonies where the tutor bee had originally learned to push the red tab, the other bees in the colony usually pushed the red tab. In colonies where the tutor bee was trained to push the blue tab, their fellow bees also tended to do the same. In contrast, in the control groups without tutors, the bees sometimes learned how to open the boxes, but most of them would do it once or twice and then never again. “They perhaps hadn’t quite made the link between their behavior and the reward,” Bridges supposes.
“Many of us consider ourselves to be rather special…because we have culture, we can learn and we’re social,” Bridges says. “But now it turns out that even the bee also has culture, which is an uncomfortable truth: human culture, once thought unique, does not emerge ‘out of the blue’ but has obviously built on deep evolutionary foundations.
12. What is people’s common attitude to bumblebees having culture?
A.Positive. | B.Indifferent. | C.Interested. | D.Doubtful. |
13. Why does Bridges place trained bees inside different colonies?
A.To test their learning capability in new settings. |
B.To see if they will spread the secret of the boxes. |
C.To evaluate their ruling power in various groups. |
D.To observe if they will share their food with peers. |
14. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about concerning the study?
A.Its appeal to the public. | B.Implications on cultural origins. |
C.Its practical application. | D.Suggestions for future directions. |
15. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A.Human Culture Is Losing Its Uniqueness |
B.Bee’s Behavior Builds on Biological Factors |
C.Culture May Be Present Among Bumblebees |
D.Animals’ Evolution May Start From Colonies |