Glossary
The figure-eight dance performed by forager honey bees to communicate the direction, distance, and quality of a food source to other workers in the hive. Decoded by Nobel laureate Karl von Frisch in the 1960s, the waggle dance is one of the most sophisticated communication systems in the animal kingdom.
A returning forager performs the waggle dance on the vertical comb surface inside the dark hive. The dance consists of a straight waggle run (the bee waggles her abdomen while walking forward) followed by a semicircular return to the starting point, repeated in alternating directions forming a figure-eight pattern.
Direction: the angle of the waggle run relative to vertical on the comb corresponds to the angle between the food source and the sun. Straight up means toward the sun. 30 degrees right of vertical means 30 degrees right of the sun. Distance: the duration of the waggle run indicates distance. Longer waggle run equals greater distance.
The enthusiasm and repetition rate of the dance communicates food source quality. Rich, concentrated nectar sources elicit vigorous, repeated dances that recruit many followers. Poor sources elicit brief, unenthusiastic dances that recruit few. This system efficiently allocates the colony's foraging workforce to the best available resources.
Attending bees follow the dancer closely, detecting vibrations through the comb and sampling scent from the dancer's body. They then fly to the indicated location and begin foraging. This recruitment system allows the colony to exploit new food sources rapidly.
Remarkably accurate. Bees can communicate food source locations up to 5+ miles away with directional accuracy within about 15 degrees and distance accuracy within about 10-15 percent. The system is accurate enough for recruited bees to find the food source efficiently.
Only forager bees that have found a food source worth reporting perform waggle dances. Nurse bees, guard bees, and other workers inside the hive do not dance. Scouts also use the waggle dance during swarming to communicate potential nest site locations.
Yes. Austrian ethologist Karl von Frisch spent decades studying bee communication and correctly decoded the waggle dance as a symbolic language communicating direction and distance. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973 for this and related discoveries about animal behavior.
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