Editing Swarm behaviour (section)

====Honey bees====
[[File:Bee swarm feb08.jpg|thumb|upright|Bees swarming on a tree]]
{{Main|Bees algorithm|Swarming (honey bee)}}

In temperate climates, [[honey bee]]s usually form swarms in late spring. A swarm typically contains about half the workers together with the old queen, while the new queen stays back with the remaining workers in the original hive. When honey bees emerge from a hive to form a swarm, they may gather on a branch of a tree or on a bush only a few meters from the hive. The bees cluster about the queen and send out 20–50 scouts to find suitable new nest locations. The scouts are the most experienced foragers in the cluster. If a scout finds a suitable location, she returns to the cluster and promotes it by dancing a version of the [[waggle dance]]. This dance conveys information about the quality, direction, and distance of the new site. The more excited she is about her findings, the more vigorously she dances. If she can convince others they may take off and check the site she found. If they approve they may promote it as well. In this decision-making process, scouts check several sites, often abandoning their own original site to promote the superior site of another scout. Several different sites may be promoted by different scouts at first. After some hours and sometimes days, a preferred location eventually emerges from this decision-making process. When all scouts agree on the final location, the whole cluster takes off and swarms to it. Sometimes, if no decision is reached, the swarm will separate, some bees going in one direction; others, going in another. This usually results in failure, with both groups dying. A new location is typically a kilometre or more from the original hive, though some species, e.g., ''[[Apis dorsata]]'',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Oldroyd|first1=BP|date=1998|title=Colony relatedness in aggregations of ''Apis dorsata'' Fabricius (Hymenoptera, Apidae)|journal=Insectes Sociaux|volume=47|pages=94–95|doi=10.1007/s000400050015|s2cid=40346464}}</ref> may establish new colonies within as little as 500 meters from the natal nest. This collective decision-making process is remarkably successful in identifying the most suitable new nest site and keeping the swarm intact. A good hive site has to be large enough to accommodate the swarm (about 15 litres in volume), has to be well-protected from the elements, receive an optimal amount of sunshine, be some height above the ground, have a small entrance and be capable of resisting ant infestation - that is why tree cavities are often selected.<ref>Milius, Susan [http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/43117/title/Swarm_Savvy Swarm Savvy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927005309/http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/43117/title/Swarm_Savvy |date=27 September 2012 }}, How bees, ants and other animals avoid dumb collective decisions; Science News, May 9th, 2009; Vol.175 #10 (p. 16)</ref><ref>[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081003081637.htm Bee Swarms Follow High-speed 'Streaker' Bees To Find A New Nest]; ScienceDaily (Nov. 24, 2008)</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Seeley |first1= Thomas D. |last2= Visscher |first2= P. Kirk |year= 2003 |title= Choosing a home: how the scouts in a honey bee swarm perceive the completion of their group decision making |url= http://bees.ucr.edu/reprints/bes54.pdf |journal= Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |volume= 54 |issue= 5 |pages= 511–520 |doi= 10.1007/s00265-003-0664-6 |bibcode= 2003BEcoS..54..511S |s2cid= 16948152 |access-date= 14 December 2010 |archive-date= 31 January 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090131024024/http://bees.ucr.edu/reprints/bes54.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Morse |first1= R.A. |year= 1963 |title= Swarm orientation in honeybees |journal= Science |volume= 141 |issue= 3578 |pages= 357–358 |doi=10.1126/science.141.3578.357 |pmid=17815993 |bibcode= 1963Sci...141..357M|s2cid= 46516976 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Seeley |first1= Thomas |year= 2003 |title= Consensus building during nest-site selection in honey bee swarms: The expiration of dissent |journal= Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |volume= 53 |issue= 6 |pages= 417–424 |doi= 10.1007/s00265-003-0598-z|bibcode= 2003BEcoS..53..417S |s2cid= 34798300 }}</ref>