Editing Bee learning and communication (section)

=== Dance communication ===
[[File:Bee waggle dance.png|thumb|Figure-Eight-Shaped waggle dance of the honeybee ([[Apis mellifera]]). A waggle run oriented 45° to the right of ‘up' on the vertical comb indicates a food source 45° to the right of the direction of the sun outside the hive. The abdomen of the dancer appears blurred because of the rapid motion from side to side.]]

It has long been known that successfully foraging [[Western honey bee]]s perform a ''[[waggle dance]]'' upon their return to the [[beehive|hive]]. The laden forager dances on the comb in a circular pattern, occasionally crossing the circle in a zig-zag or waggle pattern. [[Aristotle]] described this behaviour in his ''Historia Animalium''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/AriHian.html|title=HISTORIA ANIMALIUM|work=virginia.edu|date=6 September 2008 }}</ref> This waggle pattern of movement was thought to attract the attention of other bees. In 1947,<ref>[http://beesource.com/point-of-view/adrian-wenner/the-honey-bee-dance-language-controversy/ The Honey Bee Dance Language Controversy]</ref> [[Karl von Frisch]] correlated the runs and turns of the dance to the distance and direction of the food source from the hive. He reported that the orientation of the dance is correlated with the relative position of the sun to the food source, and the length of the waggle portion of the run is correlated to the distance of the food from the hive. Von Frisch also reported that the more vigorous the display is, the better the food.  Von Frish published these and many other observations in his 1967 book ''The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees''<ref>von Frisch, K. (1967) ''The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.</ref> and in 1973 he was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for his discoveries.

Later work has supported Von Frisch's  observations and added many details. It appears that all of the known species and races of [[honey bee]]s exhibit the behavior, but details of its execution vary among the different species. For example, in ''[[Apis florea]]'' and ''[[Apis andreniformis]]'' (the "dwarf honeybees") the dance is performed on the dorsal, horizontal portion of the nest, which is exposed. The runs and dances point directly toward the resource in these species. Each honey bee species has a characteristically different correlation of "waggling" to distance, as well.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Dyer | first1 = F.C. | last2 = Seeley | first2 = T.D. | year = 1991 | title = Dance dialects and foraging range in three Asian honey bee species | journal = Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology | volume = 28 | issue = 4| pages = 227–233 | doi=10.1007/bf00175094| bibcode = 1991BEcoS..28..227D | s2cid = 23263610 }}</ref> Such species-specific behavior suggests that this form of communication does not depend on learning but is rather determined genetically. It also suggests how the dance may have [[Evolution|evolved]].

Other experiments further document the communicative nature of the waggle dance. For example, dances by robotic dummy bees induced some recruitment.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Michelsen | first1 = A. | last2 = Anderson | first2 = B. B. | last3 = Kirchner | first3 = W. H. | last4 = Lindauer | first4 = M. | year = 1989 | title = Honeybees can be recruited by a mechanical model of a dancing bee | journal = Naturwissenschaften | volume = 76 | issue = 6| pages = 277–280 | doi = 10.1007/BF00368642 | bibcode=1989NW.....76..277M| s2cid = 22396565 }}</ref> Research has also shown that the dance may vary with the environmental context, a finding that may explain why the results of some earlier studies were inconsistent.<ref>Visscher, P.K. and Tanner, D.A. (2004). Sensory aspects of recruitment-dance performance in honey bees ''(Apis mellifera)''. in: Hartfelder, K.H, De Jong, D. et al. eds. (2004) Proceedings of the 8th IBRA International Conference on Tropical Bees and VI Encontro sobre Abelhas. Ribierao Preto: USP/FM</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Sherman | first1 = G. | last2 = Visscher | first2 = P.K. | year = 2002 | title = Honeybee colonies achieve fitness through dancing | journal = Nature | volume = 419 | issue = 6910| pages = 920–922 | doi=10.1038/nature01127|bibcode = 2002Natur.419..920S | pmid=12410309| s2cid = 4431247 }}</ref>