Wasp Logic

Wasps are the first invertebrates to pass a logic test. Remember the “transitive property” from high school math class? “If A is greater than B and B is greater than C, then A is greater than C.” Once, we thought only humans could use deductive logic, but later we learned that many vertebrates (creatures with backbones) can perform these feats to some degree. Now we can add lowly wasps to the list.

Researchers created a very narrow test to avoid faulty conclusions. They first trained a batch of paper wasps to recognize five colors in a hierarchy from A to E. Then they placed each wasp in a box divided into two colors next to each other in the hierarchy (A–B or D–E, for example). The higher color in the hierarchy delivered an unpleasant shock if the wasp stood on it. A was always safe, E was always charged, and the others varied, depending on which color they were paired with.

Then they put two nonconsecutive colors on the scale (for example, A–C or B–E). In 65% of the trials, the wasps correctly inferred that the lower value was the safe place to walk.

The wasps’ performance suggests that they formed a linear hierarchy in their heads. Honeybees failed this test.

The team believes paper wasps’ complex social hierarchy may be the reason they pass the test. Their position in the colony (and the survival of the colony) may depend on making these simple deductions in their more nuanced social hierarchy. In a wasp colony, a worker can become a queen, and the colony has several queens, unlike a honeybee colony which has only one queen.

This research is another window into the fascinating world of animal intelligence. From insects to birds and mammals, God—not evolutionary processes—gave many different creatures the smarts appropriate for their way of life.

Article was taken from Answers magazine, September–October, 2019, 19.