The Honey Bee "Dance"

The subject of a honey bee "dance language" has long been both intriguing and controversial. It is widely accepted that honey bees use floral cues to decide which flowers are the most worth its energy to forage (the flowers with the most pollen/nectar). However, in addition to the floral cues many scientists now believe there is a dance language involved.

Worker bees who return to the honey comb with pollen or nectar communicate with other foragers by dancing. The dancing portrays to the other workers about the distance and direction of where the worker bee just was. In this way the bees can most effectively direct and recruit each other to collect nectar.

When an experienced forager returns to the honey comb from a flower that deserves another look from another bee the forager will perform a dance. In this dance she will give information about both how far away this flower was and in what direction it was in. There are 3 different types of dances that give information about distance. If the plentiful food source is less than 50 meters away a round dance is performed. A distance of greater than 150 meters warrants a waggle dance. And for a distance in between 50-150 meters a sickle dance is performed (a cross between the round and waggle dances).

The direction of the food is being given during these dances. The bees will give the direction relative to the sun. And depending on how long certain parts of each dance is, the other worker bees can gauge about how far away the source is. For example, the duration of the straight walk in the waggle dance is how the honey bees judge exactly how far (2.5 seconds means approximately 2,625 meters away) (NCCES). The relationship between straight walk duration and distance away is linear.

This particular instance of animal communication is both complex and fascinating and solidifes honey bees as an important species worthy of further study and conservation. Original work on the "honey bee dance language" was done by German Nobel Prize winner Karl von Frisch, a professor of zoology at the University of Munich.

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/entomology/apiculture/PDF%20files/1.11.pdf

-Jillian O'Keefe (week 5)