It is generally known that cats, dogs and animals in wider terms enjoy playing as a form of entertainment. But why not to extend this activity also to insects?
In this case, the term “to play” is used to describe any interaction activities with an inanimate object whose unique purpose is entertainment. In order to investigate bees’ attitude toward the play experiments have been carried out. These experiments have led to the conclusion that bees enjoy rolling wooden balls. It is not an activity which try satisfy a necessity but, on the contrary, it meets behavioral parameters for animal play. This is an activity that is carried out only for fun and that take place in stress-free conditions ruling out the possibility that it might be driven by the stress. On the contrary, it is an activity that has proven to be a relief to stressful situation in the short term and it is rewarding from the point of view of bees.
Bees enjoy playing with wooden balls as well as they have proven to have some face recognition skills. If at first bees have been fed in front of a black and white photo of a human face, later they confronted with a test in which more photos of human faces were shown among which there were the same photo the bees were get used to. Despite the fact that no rewards were presented at this pint of the test, bees have been able to choose the correct photo. This leads to think that bees can create an emotional bond with the person who looks after them.
Such as a “simple” mind of a bee has given proof of being able to do something we could have never imagined. It is for this reason that Beeing is committed to guarantee an environment that can accommodate their abilities and that ensures their survival.