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Study reveals that honeybee dance ‘styles’ sway food foraging success. (news.vt.edu)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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As far as animals go, honey bees are world-class dancers.

While not as deep and complex as a Super Bowl half-time show, the bees' moves, known as the “waggle" dance, convey very specific food foraging instructions to their nestmates. The direction the dancer moves explains to other bees which way to go, and the duration of the waggle dance, or the “run,” shows how far to go. Once other bees have been convinced to follow the directions, they are “recruited.” After receiving the instructions, these recruits leave the hive to find the food their sisters were so excited about.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They must, since not only do they find their way back to the same flowers day after day, they also seem to remember when peak nectar production is, and when the flower will be open (in the case of species that close during bad weather/certain parts of the day/night).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

They also get an visual indicator from the flowers we can't see. The bees just need a rough map to the area. Check this shit out: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/flowers-manipulate-light-to-send-secret-signals-bees-180965316/

This explains the waggle dance in a way I like: https://beeprofessor.com/waggle-dance/

More cool info about bees. Bee lifecycles, how queens are made and supercedure are my favorite topics.

https://beehivehero.com/bee-life-cycle/ https://theapiarist.org/supersedure/