Honey bees are highly social insects with organized societies. Within their colonies, bees use various methods to communicate, coordinating activities essential for their collective well-being. This includes sharing information about resources, which they achieve through intricate movements that might appear as a “shaking of their bum” to an observer.
The Waggle Dance Explained
The distinctive “shaking bum” behavior is formally known as the waggle dance, a specialized form of communication used by honey bees (Apis mellifera) to share information about valuable resources. When a forager bee discovers a rich source of nectar, pollen, water, or a potential new nest site, it returns to the hive to perform this dance. The dance occurs on the vertical surface of the honeycomb in the darkened hive, where other bees observe and interpret the message.
The waggle dance involves a precise series of movements, forming a figure-eight pattern. The most informative part is the “waggle run,” a straight line where the bee vigorously waggles its abdomen from side to side, often producing buzzing sounds by vibrating its wings. After this straight run, the bee circles back to the starting point, alternating between clockwise and anti-clockwise loops, and then repeats the waggle run.
Decoding the Dance’s Messages
The waggle dance communicates two pieces of information: the direction and the distance to the resource. The angle of the waggle run relative to gravity on the comb indicates the resource’s direction in relation to the sun’s position outside the hive. For instance, if the bee waggles straight upward, it signifies that the resource is directly in line with the sun. If the waggle run is at a 45-degree angle to the left of vertical, the resource lies 45 degrees to the left of the sun’s position.
The duration of the waggle run, or the number of waggles within it, encodes the distance to the resource. A longer waggle run indicates a greater distance, while a shorter run signifies a closer source. For example, a waggle run lasting about one second can indicate a resource approximately one kilometer away. The intensity and vigor of the dance also convey the quality of the resource, with more enthusiastic dances indicating a rich find.
The Importance of Bee Communication for Survival
This dance communication is fundamental for the survival of a bee colony. By sharing precise information about the location and quality of resources, the waggle dance enables the colony to efficiently exploit distant food sources like nectar and pollen. This ensures the entire foraging force can be directed to the most rewarding patches, optimizing resource collection.
Beyond foraging, the waggle dance also helps locate other resources such as water, and new nest sites during swarming events. When a colony outgrows its home, scout bees perform waggle dances to communicate the suitability of potential new locations, allowing the swarm to collectively decide on the best site. This information sharing allows the colony to adapt to changing environmental conditions and thrive.