CREEDE HINSHAW: Happy bumblebees and mullet

Some words are just fun to pronounce. A college professor of mine allowed as how “lollipop” was one of his favorite words. I agree with this assessment, probably for multiple reasons. Somebody smarter than I could explain why “lollipop” is more fun to pronounce than “gulch” or “geriatric.”

“Bumblebee” is another one of those words that happily rolls off the tongue. I found that word — and the yellow-and-black winged insect — even more appealing after having read a recent report in the Economist (Oct. 29, 2022, p. 76 “Bumblebees have a ball.”)

Two researchers in the United Kingdom set up an experiment to see if bees like to play. (I’d like to conduct an experiment to discover if researchers create experiments like this because they, the researchers, like to play, too. Their work sounds like something one concocts on a rainy day and with somebody else’s money.)

These researchers built a bee-sized basketball court and filled it with 18 wooden balls. Half the balls they glued to the floor of the court while the other balls could be rolled around. No word on whether the basketball court included nets and goals. Then they released 45 bumblebees into the court, each of them tagged somehow so the researches could follow the actions of each bee.

The bumblebees, according to the researchers, seemed to be enjoying themselves for the sheer sake of “playing.” They spent 3 hours a day in their arena for 18 days. During that time, they learned to ignore the glued-down balls, and then to touch the movable balls with their legs and rotate them across the floor. Young bumblebees played more often and more vigorously than the older ones.

One can interpret this experiment many ways, but I would like to be in agreement with the researchers. It makes me happier to know that maybe the bumblebees were happier and playfully contented when rolling those little wooden balls.

I am reminded of the mullet, that Florida fish known for its curious habit of jumping out of the water as if propelled by an underwater cannon. Why do mullet jump? It is an oft-asked question that biologists and naturalists answer from various semi-boring perspectives. But a few people have suggested the mullet might just jump for the sheer joy of doing it. I like that.

I am not sure what to make of high-jumping mullet and ball-rolling bumblebees. For that matter, is the raccoon that swipes silver cat food dishes off my back porch playing games with me?

Politicians, preachers, business leaders and the rest of us can take ourselves and the world too seriously. And so, I’ll encourage those bumblebees to keep on playfully rolling those little wooden balls until the researchers figure out a way to build a bee-sized tennis or pickleball court for you next.

Even columnists can’t write serious columns every week. Sometimes a writer just has to be a little bit playful, even slapdash, another word that is fun to pronounce.