American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performs onstage for the opening night of “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at State Farm Stadium on March 17, 2023 in Swift City, ERAzona (Glendale, Arizona). The city of Glendale, Arizona was ceremonially renamed to Swift City for March 17-18 in honor of The Eras Tour. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)

Once upon a time a myth was born that insects, unlike animals, are just a machines that not capable of learning and survive only based on their instincts. That myth has become the widespread opinion. Of course, this opinion is indeed erroneous, like many other widespread opinions. Let us try to find out which part is a myth and which part is true.

Toure, a Gambian salt harvester, holds a basket filled with the salt collected from the crust of the bottom of the Lake Retba (Pink Lake) in Senegal on March 16, 2021. Lake Retba, divided from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow corridor of dunes, owes its name to the pink waters caused by the Dunaliella salina algae and is known for its high salt content, up to 40% in some areas. (Photo by Marco Longari/AFP Photo)

Nefertara, a supporter of pop star Britney Spears, wears an outfit inspired by the singer as she holds a picture of Britney that she painted, during a gathering on the day of a conservatorship case hearing at Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles, California, U.S., September 29, 2021. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

A horse at the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate, UK on July 9, 2025. The county show is expecting to attract 140,000 visitors over four days. (Photo by Andrew McCaren/London News Pictures)

An Iranian girl walks at the Tochal ski resort, in north of Tehran, Iran on December 12, 2019. (Photo by Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA via Reuters)

“Red Arrows” at the 2016 royal air tattoo, RAF Fairford, UK. By Jonny Williams, finalist: action. (Photo by Jonny Williams/UK National Geographic Traveller Photography Competition 2018)

A girl wearing a face mask as a precaution against the coronavirus walks past a display of garments at a market in Bengaluru, India, Saturday, January 9, 2021. India will kick off the coronavirus vaccination drive on Jan. 16 to stem the pandemic in the world's second-most populous country. A Health Ministry statement says that priority will be given to the healthcare workers and the frontline workers, estimated around 30 million. (Photo by Aijaz Rahi/AP Photo)