Can Bees Open a Fanta Bottle? Behavioral Ecologist Explains How Two Honeybees Were Able To Unscrew the Container

The world houses a diverse range of over 20,000 bee species, encompassing social species like honey bees and solitary species like mason bees, each with distinct colony structures and roles. Usually, they are only known as pollinators in the food chain. However, these flying insects also possess various talents, such as math skills, face recognition, and tool usage.

In 2021, a viral video circling the social media platforms show two honeybees unscrewing a Fanta bottle cap. The video has raised questions of whether it is real or not.

(Photo : Pixabay/David Mark)
Can Bees Open a Fanta Bottle? Behavioral Ecologist Explains How Two Honeybees Were Able To Unscrew the Container

Bees' Incredible Intelligence Help Them Open the Fanta Bottle

The viral video was filmed in São Paulo, Brazil, by a person on their lunch break who had a soda taken by the bees. The remarkable dexterity displayed by two bees in apparently unscrewing a soda bottle cap has puzzled many, sparking questions about the intelligence of these tiny creatures with minuscule brains.

Recent discoveries have shown that brain size does not necessarily correlate with cognitive abilities, as smaller animals require fewer brain cells due to their reduced body mass.

While early beliefs, like Karl von Frisch's 1962 assertion that bumblebees lacked the brainpower for complex tasks, have been challenged, the question remains: how could such tiny brains manage the intricate task of opening a soda bottle cap?

Despite their small brain size, bees have demonstrated surprising intelligence in various studies, including their ability to learn, use tools, count to zero, and perform basic math.

While skeptics like von Frisch may attribute their feats to instinct, bees continue to defy expectations, suggesting that their brains, despite their size, might be capable of more complex tasks than we previously imagined, challenging our understanding of intelligence in the animal kingdom.

Did the Bees Employed Teamwork?

In 2020, a public folklorist debunked claims of heart-shaped honeycombs being the result of bees' free-form creativity, revealing human influence in their construction. This history led to skepticism when a viral video showed two bees seemingly "opening" a Fanta bottle together, prompting further investigation into the nature of their collaborative problem-solving behavior.

Dr. Lars Chittka, a bee behavior expert, said the bees on the viral video seemingly opening a Fanta bottle might have individually learned to access sugary drinks from discarded bottles and that their behavior in the video may not be a result of teamwork but rather learned associations with sugary rewards.

While bees can collaborate in certain tasks, there is no published evidence of spontaneous coordinated maneuvers to overcome obstacles in the field. The bees in the video likely accessed the Fanta due to the sugary residue on the bottle cap, possibly generating enough torque to unscrew it.

The video's authenticity is also uncertain, as assessing complex behavior from a single clip can be challenging. Chittka's research has shown that bees can learn from each other and share information, but it typically requires multiple learning opportunities rather than spontaneous insight.

While lifting the lid on a soda bottle is impressive for sugar-seeking insects, it may not indicate a bee-led world domination plan, as humorous speculation suggests.