We took this brief (but exciting for us!) video of the bees performing a "waggle dance" in one of our colonies a few days ago. Foragers use the waggle dance to communicate to their sisters where they found a good source of nectar or pollen when the source is far from the colony (over 150 meters). She marches in a figure 8 pattern, wagging her tail as she walks down the center. She angles the center "waggle" in relation to the sun and the colony to communicate the direction of the source. The duration of each waggle she makes communicates how far away the source is. If the source isn't far away, she'll perform a round dance--see diagram below.
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| Source: P. Kirk Visscher, University of California, Riverside. |
