Bumblebees Like Playing With Toys

Only few weeks ago, I had re-posted one of my favorite essays - Animals & Play

We have more reason to celebrate all life forms amongst us and not cause suffering: 

To define the ball rolling as “play,” researchers relied on a framework that uses five criteria to fit that definition. This included that the behavior didn’t contribute to survival strategies, started during stress-free conditions, and was intrinsically rewarding.2

“Mainly, we found that bees engaged in the ball rolling activity repeatedly despite the absence of an external incentive, such as getting food/mates/shelter. Rather, the behavior was rewarding in itself, which is what play is,” Galpayage says.

They also found that the patterns of play in relation to age resembled other young mammals. Younger bees engaged with the balls more than older bees, and male bees rolled balls for longer periods than females.2

“That bees may play is an important finding for science because it provides further evidence that an insect may experience something like pleasure,” says Galpayage. “Personally, I find this behavior fascinating because it tells us that bees, like many other animals, are more than little robotic beings, but have a richer behavior and life than we would have previously thought.”