Bumblebees' sense of direction rivals that of humans, study shows

Originally published by Lena Björk Blixt, Lund University, on August 14, 2024

In the study, each bumblebee had a small tag attached to its back so that the researchers could distinguish the various individuals when testing their navigation ability. Credit: Rickesh Patel

Bumblebees have a great capacity to navigate despite their small brain size. This is borne out of new research conducted at Lund University in Sweden. The research results can potentially benefit the development of navigation robots in crisis situations where GPS does not work, for example.

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