Readers have asked us: "Do Bees Dance?" Well, yes, maybe! The subject is mired in controversy, but lots of empirical evidence suggests that the Honey Bee does a little wiggly six-step to 'tell' other bees about nectar discoveries.
Here's an example: the Bee Hive, the Flowers, and the Sun are lined up in a straight row...A bee discovers the nectar source (The Flower), and takes note of a fixed reference point (the Sun). She (the Bee) returns to her hive in a bee-line or straight path. When she gets back inside her home (the Hive), the honey bee must be able to communicate the direction of the nectar source. In this case, she wants to tell her co-workers to fly straight towards the Sun. Inside the dark bee hive, GRAVITY becomes the reference system, therefore, her dance is straight UP on the comb... The other honey bees feel the bee-dance movement through their antennae-sensors and know which direction to fly out of the hive to get to the nectar!!
For more information on the Bee Dance check out this scientific paper from the Michigan State University.
Our thanks to Herb Jellinek and the crew at Java for creating and sharing the Java code which we adapted!
Beekeeping: The Beekeeper's Home Pages
(Beekeeping@shaw.ca) - http://www.badbeekeeping.com
