Bumblebees that Play

When you say that an animal is playing, you probably think of either mammals or birds. It is true that most of the time only these classes of animal play, but in some special cases, such as the bumblebees', insects play too.

Scientists at London’s Queen Mary University have reported that bees play. They rewarded bees with food each time they pushed a small ball around, then without gaining a prize, the bee started doing it on its own.

The same scientists tried the same test with forty-five bees, both female and male. The bees' ages varied from one to twenty-five days old. In this experiment, scientists discovered that bees that were young and that were male liked playing more than females or older bees.

This behavior (playing) of the bees raises the question if animals have feelings, if they liked playing. They have not found the answer to this peeving question yet.