Honey bees use the waggle dance to show nestmates the direction and distance to food.
A returning worker runs a short, vibrating “waggle” segment, then loops back in alternating arcs. On a vertical honeycomb, the angle of that run represents the food’s direction relative to the sun. The run’s duration generally signals distance: farther resources produce longer waggles.
The behavior is associated especially with the western honey bee, Apis mellifera, and can advertise nectar, pollen, water, or possible nest sites. It is not a rigid dance language in every circumstance; bees may also use odors, landmarks, memory, and personal foraging experience.
A common mix-up is the round dance. Round and waggle dances are part of a continuum, with round dances more typical of nearby resources. Austrian zoologist Karl von Frisch famously decoded the dance’s directional and distance information and received the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.