Human societies developed food preferences based on what was available and what the group decided it liked most. Those preferences were then passed along as part of the set of socially learned behaviors, values, knowledge and customs that make up culture. Besides humans, many other social animals are believed to exhibit forms of culture in various ways, too.

In fact, according to a new study led by Harvard scientist Liran Samuni, bonobos (倭黑猩猩), one of our closest living relatives, could be the latest addition to the list.

The researchers studied the hunting and feeding habits of two neighboring groups of bonobos at the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Analyzing the data, they saw many similarities in the lives of the two bonobo groups, given the names the Ekalakala and the Kokoalongo. They also both have the access and opportunity to hunt the same kind of prey (猎物). This, however, is precisely where researchers noticed a striking difference.

The groups consistently preferred to hunt and feast on two different types of prey. The Ekalakala group went after an anomalure that is capable of moving through the air from tree to tree. The Kokoalongo group, on the other hand, favored a duiker that lives on the forest floor.

“It’s basically like two human cultures exploiting a common resource in different ways,” says Samuni. “Think about two cultures living close to each other but having different preferences: One prefers chicken while the other is more of a beef-eating culture.”

Using statistical modeling, the scientists found this behavior happens independent of factors like the location of the hunts, their timing or the season. In fact, the researchers’ model found that the only variable that could reliably predict prey preference was whether the hunters were team Ekalakala or team Kokoalongo.

The researchers haven’t yet investigated how the bonobo groups learned this hunting preference, but through their analysis they were able to rule out ecological factors or genetic differences.

Basically, it means all evidence points toward this being a learned social behavior. “If our closest living relatives have some cultural traits (特征), then it’s likely our ancestors already had some capacity for culture,” Samuni says.

The humble honey bee is responsible for up to 80 per cent of plant pollination (授粉) worldwide. But population numbers are in steep decline because of habitat loss, pesticides and pollution — threatening our food security. One startup has identified a potential solution — the common hoverfly (食蚜蝇).

UK-based designer Tashia Tucker has created an AI-based technology called Olombria, which encourages hoverflies to increase their pollination levels to match that of bees. Although flies perform approximately 30 percent of the world’s pollination, they aren’t as efficient as bees, often getting distracted and “wandering off” before they can carry pollen between plants.

Olombria is a solution — an AI pollination system that encourages hoverflies to pollinate targeted sites when the plants are in bloom (鲜花盛开). The system consists of sensors, cameras and chemical signaling devices placed within specified areas of an orchard or field. It starts by collecting data on the level and diversity of pollinators in a grower’s field as well as pollination effectiveness.

This information, combined with other environmental data — time, the location and temperature, allows the system to paint an overall picture of pollinator health and then take action. “We first provide that baseline data,” Tucker explains, “so we have an understanding of where there are deficiencies (缺乏) and areas that need to be improved, and then we distribute our natural chemical signaling from the device.”

Depending on what areas of an orchard need pollinating, Olombria’s AIcloud system triggers chosen devices to release organic chemicals that encourage hoverflies to move towards those specific areas. “The chemicals do not change what the flies would naturally do, but target their location and increase the amount of pollen that they’re picking up and transferring,” Tucker explains.

The hoverflies work in cooperation with the bees and, through Tucker’s research, she’s found that the hoverflies even encourage bees to become more efficient pollinators. “There’s a bit of competition; it focuses the bees’ pollination as there’s another insect in the area,” says Tucker.

As a designer, Tucker initially designed Olombria’s device to look like a fruit to reflect the ethos (气质) of the design. “When I started working with farmers, I knew I needed to design the technology to be strong enough to stay out in the field and in various weather conditions,” says Tucker. Since then, Tucker has changed the design and is exploring what colors work well with insects. “As we start to streamline the technology, it is becoming more refined,” Tucker explains. “As an AI system, it’s great, as it’s just getting smarter as the technology develops.”

Honeybees rely heavily on flower patterns not just colors when searching for food, new research shows.

A team led by the University of Exeter tested bee behaviour and built bee’s-eye-view simulations (模拟装置) to work out how they see flowers.

Honeybees have low resolution vision, so they can only see a flower’s pattern clearly when they are within few centimeters. However, the new’ study shows bees can very effectively distinguish between different flowers by using a combination of colour and pattern.

In a series of tests, bees rarely ignored pattern, suggesting colour alone does not lead them to flowers. This may help to explain why some colours that are visible to bees are rarely produced by flowers in nature.

“We studied a large amount of data on plants and bee behaviour,” said Professor Natalie Hempel, from Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour. “By training and testing bees using man-made patterns of shape and colour, we found they relied flexibly on their ability to see both of these elements. Showing how insects see colour and learn colour patterns is important to understand how pollinators (传粉者) may, or may not, create evolutionary ‘pressures’ on the colours and patterns that flowers have evolved (进化). Our findings suggest that flowers don’t need to evolve too many different flower colours, because they can use patterns to vary their displays so bees can tell them apart from other flowers.”

One typical feature identified in the study is that the outside edges of flowers usually contrast strongly with the plant’s leaves while the centre of the flower does not have such a strong contrast with the leaf colour. This could help bees quickly identify colour differences and find their way to flowers.

While flowers may be beautiful to humans, Professor Hempel stressed that understanding more about bees and the threats they face meant we need to see the world “through the eyes of a bee and the mind of a bee.”