Did you know that dancing is how honeybees communicate?
The more I learn about bees the more amazed I am every-time at their individual and collective intelligence!

The curtains open and the honeybee takes its place on stage and begins the performance. Worker bees gather to watch the waggle dance.

The waggle dance uses a combination of physical moves and pheromones. It’s one of many distinct communication behaviors that are performed in the hive.

The dance consists of one to 100 or more circuits, each containing two phases: the waggle phase and the return phase. The complete waggle dance takes the basic pattern of a figure 8.

Honeybees execute the dance when it wants to inform the hive of a new nectar source. Bees will not waste valuable time and energy searching for food if they don’t need to.

The duration of her waggle indicates the distance to the nectar source. The longer the waggle, the further the flower. And the angle at which she dances across the comb tells them the direction to the flower in relation to the Sun.

Source: Science News

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/bee-honeybees-waggle-dance-communicate-lessons-learn-hive