Can Wasps Remember You?
WouterUntil recently, scientists considered insects to have relatively small brains. Nevertheless, some wasp species are as smart as humans. They are capable of learning about their environments, making decisions based on observations, and interacting with others in a logical fashion.
Some wasp species are capable of recognizing individuals based on their face and other characteristics. This capability could be inherited, or learned through experience. In fact, paper wasps are able to recognize individual faces with considerable accuracy.
Researchers at the University of Michigan tested wasps’ ability to recognize faces. They found that golden paper wasps can distinguish between a face and a color pattern with great accuracy. They also found that paper wasps retain this ability when raised in nests.
Researchers also found that wasps had a more difficult time discriminating among images in other pairings. They even discovered that wasps could learn to select a specific face after 20 trials. Moreover, the smallest wasp’s brain is just less than one million cells. Its field of vision is not as clear as humans’, but it does allow it to detect prominent facial features.
The University of Michigan study also looked at how the brain develops in wasps. The study looked at regions involved in visual processing and how social experience shapes the brain. It also looked at how wasps’ brains adapted to their environment.
The study also looked at how different wasp species compared. They found that some species, like the tarantula hawk wasp, have an individual intelligence that is comparable to that of humans.
