Bees tell each other where the flowers are
A honey bee’s waggle dance encodes the direction and distance of food. Other bees read it in the dark and fly the route.
Established2 min read
Von Frisch trained bees to feeders and watched the dance. The angle of the waggle run, relative to gravity on the comb, matches the angle of the food relative to the sun. The duration of the waggle matches distance. Recruits who follow the dancer find the site.
Later work with harmonic radar tracked recruits and showed they use the vector. The dance is not a vague excitement. It is a compressed set of polar coordinates, plus an argument about quality in how vigorously she dances. A Nobel Prize in 1973 was not a courtesy.
Caveats
- Bees also use odour. The dance is not the only cue, and odour debates filled a decade. The vector itself is real.
Sources
- 1von Frisch K.. The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees. Harvard University Press, 1967.