Stingless-Bee Communication
By James Nieh
Searching for a proto-dance language reveals possible stages in the evolution of methods by which experienced foragers lead others to food
This Article From Issue
September-October 1999
Volume 87, Number 5
Page 428
DOI: 10.1511/1999.36.428
At the close of World War I in the spring of 1919, an Austrian scientist, Karl von Frisch, sat in a former Jesuit cloister feeding honeybees. He had just designed a glass-walled observation hive, and, as he wrote in The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees, he was delighted to observe one of his returning foragers performing "a round dance in which the . . . bees sitting nearby showed lively interest. They tripped along after the dancer, and then left the hive to hasten to the feeding station."
Photographs courtesy of James C. Nieh.
American Scientist Comments and Discussion
To discuss our articles or comment on them, please share them and tag American Scientist on social media platforms. Here are links to our profiles on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
If we re-share your post, we will moderate comments/discussion following our comments policy.