|
....Well, bees
are very clever. When a honey bee finds a source of food,
they just can't wait to tell their friends about it. They
do this by performing something called a "Waggle Dance".
After finding
a source of food, scout bees returning to the hive and dance on the vertical
walls of the honeycomb. The dance is made up of a small 'figure
of eight' pattern, with the waggle run in the middle. The
direction and the duration of the waggle shows other bees the
direction and the distance of the food!
A
figure-of-eight pattern indicates that the food is farther away.
Sometimes bees can travel up to two miles in search of food! They can also do a round dance to indicate that the food is very
close, within 35 yards or less.
To prove this,
scientists have placed radio transmitters on bees to see how
effective
the waggle dance instructions are.
Honey bees also use
something called the round
dance when the food source is less than 35 yards away. The bee
turns in circles alternately to the left and to the right. The
richer the food source, the longer and more vigorous the dance.
The round dance does not communicate any specific direction but
the forager bee does provide the flowers' scent, which other
bees use to find the flowers. |
