Honey bees communicate using a suite of sophisticated non-verbal signals rather than vocal cords or grammar. They possess an intricate system for transmitting information about resource locations, colony status, and immediate threats. This communication network allows a colony of tens of thousands of individuals to function as a single, coordinated unit. Their methods, involving movement, chemistry, and vibration, are remarkably advanced, enabling the precise transfer of abstract concepts like direction and distance.
Communicating Through Movement: The Waggle Dance
The most famous and abstract form of bee communication is the waggle dance, a symbolic language decoded largely by the Nobel laureate Karl von Frisch. A successful forager performs this precise movement on the vertical surface of the honeycomb to recruit nestmates to a profitable food source. The dance is an energy-rich figure-eight pattern, with the information-rich portion being the straight “waggle run” in the middle.
The direction of the resource is conveyed by the angle of this waggle run relative to the pull of gravity, which serves as a substitute for the sun’s position. If the bee runs straight up the comb, the food is in the same direction as the sun. If she runs 30 degrees to the left of vertical, the food source is 30 degrees to the left of the sun’s current position. This is a remarkable feat of symbolic communication, as it translates an angle outside the dark hive into an angle on the comb.
Distance to the flowers is encoded by the duration of the waggle run itself. A longer waggle run signals a greater distance from the hive. Furthermore, the quality of the resource, such as the sugar concentration of the nectar, is indicated by the vigor and overall duration of the entire dance. A more frantic and persistent dance suggests a higher quality or more abundant food source, encouraging more recruits to follow the directions.
Chemical Language: The Role of Pheromones
Chemical signals called pheromones regulate the colony’s long-term social organization and immediate defensive responses. These messengers are secreted by various glands on the queen, workers, and brood, influencing the behavior of other bees. The Queen Mandibular Pheromone (QMP) is the most studied, acting as a “primer” to maintain colony cohesion and suppress worker reproductive development.
QMP is a complex blend of compounds that signals the queen’s presence and health, detected by workers through their antennae. Workers who encounter the queen or her pheromones spread it throughout the hive via physical contact, ensuring the entire colony is aware of her status. This signal also elicits the “retinue response,” where workers surround the queen to groom and feed her. When QMP levels decrease, workers begin rearing new queens.
Worker bees also produce “releaser” pheromones that trigger immediate behavioral changes, particularly in defense. When a bee stings, it releases an alarm pheromone containing isopentyl acetate. This chemical blend, which smells like bananas to humans, quickly attracts other workers to the disturbance and incites defensive behavior. This potent, fast-acting signal ensures a swift and coordinated defense of the nest.
Sounds and Vibrations: Short-Range Signals
Bees also communicate using sound and substrate vibrations, which function as short-range, tactile signals within the hive. Queens, particularly virgin queens preparing to emerge, use acoustic signals known as “piping,” consisting of distinct “tooting” and “quacking” sounds. These signals are transmitted through the comb’s substrate, potentially coordinating swarming and delaying the emergence of rival queens.
Worker bees generate specific vibratory signals to regulate colony activity. The “shaking signal” involves a bee grasping a nestmate and rapidly shaking its body for a few seconds. This rousing signal is often performed by active foragers to stimulate inactive bees to begin work, regulating the colony’s overall activity level.
Another signal is the “stop signal,” a brief, high-frequency vibration transmitted to a waggle dancer. This signal inhibits the dancer from continuing, typically when the advertised resource is no longer profitable. These precise vibrational cues are examples of how bees use mechanical energy for immediate, localized communication.