In 2022, researchers placed small balls in an arena with bumblebees. Without training or reward, the insects kept rolling them again and again, young bees more than older ones, and preferred the chamber where the balls were. The behavior ticks the boxes for animal play, hinting that these insects may experience something like positive states.
In 2022, a young tagged bar-tailed godwit flew from Alaska to Tasmania in about 11 days of nonstop flight, covering 13,560 km without eating, drinking or landing. Before departure, these birds pile on huge fat reserves and shrink their digestive organs, which are useless during the journey.
To escape rivals, a dung beetle rolls its ball of dung in a straight line. At night, it holds its course using the glowing band of the Milky Way. In a planetarium, researchers showed that beetles rolled straight under a starry sky but wandered aimlessly when the galaxy was switched off. It was the first animal known to navigate this way.