Because dancing is such a universal way of communicating since no words are needed, most people can express their feelings and thoughts very easily. It can present what is on your mind and what is deep down in your soul. If you think about this kind of art style, you would assume that humans are the only creatures on earth who use it. This is, in fact, not true because animals are also capable of dancing and communicating through it. They may not communicate their feelings or what is going on in their souls, but they do share information that they need to survive or that helps them stay organized in large groups. One animal species is the so-called honey bee.
The honey bee’s dance, also called the waggle dance, is a communication method that is used by the members of the honey bee colony (only between the worker bees). Of course, we ask ourselves why they behave like this. They communicate good food sources through it, such as flowers with a lot of nectar or water. They also communicate potential new locations for the colony.
In the bee colony, there are many thousands of different bees, and every single one of them has its own role and tasks. The bees, who are aged 20 or more days, fulfill the task of foraging. They leave their nest in order to look for nectar or pollen that can be found on flowers. When they find the location, they transfer it to other worker bees in the form of a waggle dance when they are back in the nest.
What does this waggle dance look like? The waggle dance, performed by the bee, consists of the wagging of the honeybee’s tail and the buzzing of her wings. While doing that, she moves in the shape of a circle. Also included are multiple twirls and a backward run (which symbolizes her flight back from the just-found water source).
The Austrian Karl von Frisch was an ethologist who was the first to decode the behavior of the bees, published a book about it in 1944, and won the Nobel Prize in 1937. He found out that the duration as well as the rate can give information about the profitability of the food source. More professional sources get communicated through a faster run and less through a slower run.
Furthermore, bees are equipped with an internal sun compass, with which they can show the other swarm members in their dance in which direction the food source is.
This smart animal can also take the strength of the wind into consideration during their dance. If there is a stronger wind, the bee shows the other worker bees that the way to the food source will be longer. This way, the others will know that they are going to need more energy to reach it. Through their impressive collective consciousness, also known as the hive mind, the bees can understand each other without problems and contribute to a well-working swarm life.
Sources:
https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/Honey-Bee-Dance.html
