Honeybee dance ‘styles’ sway food foraging success

Biologists have learned several interesting patterns related to bee communication. One such observation was that bees have consistent, unique ways of dancing, meaning each bee has its own ‘style’ that it adds to the communication. Could the success of the waggle dance be related to this uniqueness? Would bees that communicated similarly yield more successful recruits? Or is there some other factor at play? This study reveals the waggle to be a diverse form of communication that helps improve the likelihood that one bee can tell another where food can be found. …read more