Bees have emotions too. Who’d have thunk?
Researchers have successfully introduced bumblebees to football. Hope they do better than Germany, Brazil and England. They ‘kick’ the ball around for no other reason than fun. In other words, they do not have to be given food rewards to induce them to play. They just play for the fun of it. It appears they possess the emotion of play. Play is an emotion we more commonly associate with many mammals, not bees. But it should not be surprising that bees have it. Play is one of the primary emotions in humans and other mammals. It serves useful functions such as practice at social bonding and building physical strength and dexterity. So, probably quite useful for bees too.
Link to article: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2345255-bumblebees-rolling-wooden-balls-may-be-first-evidence-of-insect-play/
You may also like to browse other ethology posts: https://www.thesentientrobot.com/category/ethology/
