Honey Bee Communication Through the Waggle Dance

I am currently reading Honeybee Democracy by Thomas Seeley.
What a delightful book! I love it because I am fascinated by bees, but I think even a non-beekeeper would be intrigued by Seeley's way of presenting how honey bees make decisions about the welfare and growth of the hive as a whole.

Seeley writes so comfortably that I feel like I am in conversation with him. He doesn't throw around scientific wisdom, but instead conveys his knowledge in such a way that it feels casual and easy to understand.

If you have the opportunity to read this book, you'll think about swarms and swarm intelligence in so much clearer a way. Seeley shines a light for us all on how the honeybee communicates about choice of living space for a swarm and how these decisions are made in the swarm.

I find honeybee communication fascinating. Most of it takes place in the dark of the hive (note hives are completely dark - no windows.) And yet the honeybee communicates by dancing. I assume since she can't be seen dancing, her movements are felt by her sisters. We always see drawings or film of the honey bee dancing visibly, but that is not the case in the hive.

I opened my email this morning to find a note from Tucker Balch at Georgia Tech. Among his many interests and talents, he works with robotics and in that interest began studying honeybees. He has made an enlightening video about the waggle dance that I have loved watching (I've seen it three times just today!) His interest is in understanding the role of communication in the bee hive.

Here is his video about honeybee communication via the waggle dance, more clearly explained than anywhere else I've ever seen it. He repeated Von Frisch's experiment of years ago. I encourage you to click on the lower right corner of the YouTube screen to make the video full screen: