Bees can master challenging tasks by watching each other.
Bees can learn difficult tasks by watching each other
Experiments show that the insects are able to complete a complicated puzzle box task by observing their peers to gain a sugar reward.
However, the bees struggled when there was no assistance involved.
Scientists say that the creatures possess "a level of social learning previously thought to be exclusive to humans".
Professor Lars Chittka, from Queen Mary University in London, said: "This challenges the traditional view that only humans can socially learn complex behaviour beyond individual learning.
"It raises the possibility that many of the remarkable accomplishments of the social insects may have initially spread by copying of clever innovators."
The team explained that their work shows that cumulative culture exists in bees and "opens exciting possibilities" for further discovery.