Honeybees use the waggle dance to communicate the direction and distance of a food source.
A forager performs the dance on the honeycomb after returning to the colony. Its central waggle run contains information: the angle relative to vertical indicates the food’s direction compared with the sun, while the duration of the waggle helps indicate distance. Other workers follow the dancer, touch it with their antennae, and may then fly out to investigate the reported location.
Austrian biologist Karl von Frisch demonstrated the dance’s meaning through experiments in the twentieth century. His work helped establish that honeybees exchange spatial information rather than merely exciting nestmates with a general display.
The dance is not a precise map with a fixed mileage scale. Wind, terrain, food quality, and the colony’s needs can affect recruitment. Bees also use a simpler round dance for nearby food, generally when the source is close to the hive.