https://voisplanet.com/article

Dataset

Unlike other extensively studied insects like ants and bees, which live in communal nests, Heliconius butterflies operate individually. They have evolved a unique foraging behavior, feeding on pollen and establishing "traplines," efficient foraging routes along which they repeatedly return to reliable pollen sources within a particular area. The researchers, led by Dr. Stephen Montgomery from the University of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences, aimed to investigate the spatial learning abilities of Heliconius butterflies. They conducted experiments at three different spatial scales, representing various foraging behaviors. First, the team tested the butterflies' ability to learn the location of a food reward within a 1 m² grid of 16 artificial flowers, simulating foraging within a single resource patch. Next, they expanded the spatial scale and assessed if Heliconius could associate food with specific sides of a 3 m² two-armed maze, representing multiple plants within a single locality. Finally, using outdoor cages in southern France, the researchers tested whether the butterflies could learn the location of food within a 60 m-wide T-maze, mimicking foraging between different locations. The results were intriguing. Heliconius butterflies demonstrated the capacity to learn spatial information across these different scales, with the ability to associate food sources with specific locations in a maze-like environment.

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