Article,
Flower choice copying in bumblebees.
Biology Letters, 1 (4): 504--507 (2005)
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2005.0368
Abstract
We tested a hypothesis originating with Darwin that bees outside the
nest exhibit social learning in flower choices. Naive bumblebees,
Bombus impatiens, were allowed to observe trained bees or artificial
bees forage from orange or green flowers. Subsequently, observers
of bees on green flowers landed more often on green flowers than
non-observing controls or observers of models on orange flowers.
These results demonstrate that bumblebees can change flower choice
by observations of non-nest mates, a novel form of social learning
in insects that could provide unique benefits to the colony.
