The researchers, from the University of Queensland, found that – unlike humans, who are mostly right-handed – bees that have a preference for one side over the other are evenly spread between right and left.

“When the apertures were equally wide, both apertures were chosen with equal frequency and about 55 per cent of the bees displayed no side bias in their choices,” said Professor Mandyam Srinivasan, from the University of Queensland.

“Unlike humans, who are mostly right-handed, some bees display a strong left bias, others a strong right bias, and yet others a weak or zero bias.”

The researchers also conducted tests in which the gaps in the barrier were set at different widths.