Why Bees Mostly Ignore The Waggle Dance

You've probably heard that bees use a complex set of movements, often called the waggle dance, to tell other worker bees where to find new sources of nectar. It's a super clever and sophisticated system, but it turns out that bees almost never immediately jump up to follow the directions they just got, which weirdly is also super clever and sophisticated. Hi, I'm Cameron and this is Minute Earth. Most communal insects lead their nestmates to promising food sources with pheromone trails, but bees, like Beatrice here, — fly long distances to find flower patches. Chemical signals would just disappear into the air. Instead, after returning to the hive, Bee shares information about a promising patch through choreography. The direction she moves describes the exact direction to the patch relative to the sun. The time she spends waggling tells her sisters how far the patch is in that direction, and the intensity conveys how promising Bee thinks the patch is. This complicated set of movements adds up to a set of map coordinates tagged with a star for bees. And Bee might repeat her choreography as many as 50 times to make sure the other workers catch every move. And at this point, I guess I should mention that the inside of a beehive is completely dark. Nearby workers have to follow Bee's every move by touching her with their antenna. But, as much as 93% of the time, the other workers will observe this long, intricate set of movements and then just go on with their day, — which actually makes sense. I mean, most of these workers are expert foragers themselves. They already have patches they know and like. There's also the risk of getting lost while following someone else's directions. Plus, Bee might have overestimated how promising the patch actually is or might have made a mistake in her directions. Instead, a bee analyzes the information conveyed by a waggle dance. They weigh the risks of venturing into the unknown versus sticking with what they know and then make a decision. And the vast majority of the time, bees end up passing on that suggestion, which probably isn't different than how you use crowdsourced information. One five-star review probably wouldn't convince you to visit a new place instead of one you already love. But, let's say your favorite place was closed or there were dozens of five-star reviews for this new place, then you might be convinced to take the chance. It's the same with bees. In early spring and late fall, when flower patches are few and far between or after a destructive storm, a bee's go-to spots are more likely to be empty. And in that case, it might be worth taking a chance on what another bee is buzzing about. And if multiple bees are giving the same information about the same patch, the worker is more likely to take a chance and visit it. So, even though most of the time bees don't follow the directions conveyed by waggle dances, the information becomes part of the hive's communal knowledge, even if they don't make a beeline for it. Making buzzworthy videos that explore the incredible science of insect communication and so much more takes a lot of effort from the worker bees over here. And if you love what we do, please consider joining Minute Earth on Patreon. Your support helps us keep digging into these topics and bringing them to you. Plus, our high-level patrons get exclusive perks, like this season's t-shirt club design, which shows everyone exactly how to do the waggle dance. Come join the dance party at patreon. com/minuteearth. —