Bee Signals: How Far Does the Evidence Go?

More Than a Dance

1A honeybee returns to its hive after finding food and begins a waggle dance. Nearby workers follow its movements, touching the dancer with their antennae. It is tempting to call this a tiny conversation. Yet a good explanation needs more than an appealing comparison. We should explain honeybee communication as a system of several signals, not treat the dance as a complete human language.

2The waggle dance carries information about a food source's location. On a vertical comb, the angle of the waggle run indicates a direction relative to the sun. The duration of that run provides information about distance. Researchers have observed that bees following dances can search in the direction indicated by the dancer. That connection between a signal and the followers' behavior supports the claim that the dance communicates location information.

3However, the dance is not the whole system. Returning foragers also carry flower odors that other workers can detect. Those odors can help recruits recognize the kind of flowers to search for. The dance does not name a particular blossom as a street address names a building. Recruits must still search, using additional clues to locate food.

4Communication also serves purposes beyond finding flowers. A honeybee releasing an alarm pheromone—a chemical signal—can alert other workers to a disturbance. This is evidence that honeybee signals are not limited to movement. It also gives a second reason to teach communication as a system: different signals serve different needs. Explaining only the dance would leave out an important way workers respond to their surroundings.

5Some observers make a larger claim: because bees share location information, they must discuss ideas just as people do. The evidence here does not support that leap. A signal about food does not demonstrate a discussion of yesterday's weather or next week's plans. Calling the dance impressive is reasonable; treating it as proof of humanlike conversation is not.

6There is also a claim that learning the dance would let a person predict exactly which flower each recruit will visit. But direction and distance describe a search area, not a guaranteed landing place. Flower odors and conditions outside the hive also matter. The strongest explanation therefore combines dance information with other signals and keeps its conclusions within what observations can establish.