Subject: Information on Bee "Dance"?

From: ASC ([email-masked])
Date: 29 Apr 1996 14:48:13 GMT

I am currently working on a project and need some info.
	regarding the "dance" that bees do in order to indicate
	the direction of a pollen source. I believe that this
	dance is in a figure eight pattern in relationship to 
	the position of the sun. Is this correct? Can someone
	give me a more detailed description or point me to a
	book which could offer help? I went to a rather large
	bookstore yesterday and sadly could find no information
	on either bees or beekeeping. Any help is greatly
	appreciated!

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From: Steve Bambara <[email-masked]>
Date: 30 Apr 1996 11:44:01 GMT

ASC ([email-masked]) wrote:
>	the direction of a pollen source.

Don't get me started on this topic, again!  :)
Let's just say that all scientists don't agree on the purpose
of the dancing, although it would seem to be involved with
recruiting.
	Any decent library will have a book such as the "Hive and Honey Bee"
which will tell you what you want.  For the rest of the story consult
"Anatomy of a Controversy" by Adrian Wenner and Patrick Wells.

SB

***************************************************************
Steve Bambara  Dept. of Entomology, Box 7626, Raleigh, NC 27695
[email-masked]    (919) 515-1661    fax (919) 515-7273

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From: [email-masked] (Greg Kendall)
Date: 1 May 1996 02:33:15 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> ASC ([email-masked]) writes:
>	book which could offer help?

Might as well go right to THE source:  "The Dance Language and Orientation
of Bees" Karl Von Frisch, Harvard University Press ISBN 0-674-19051-3
(paperback) 0-674-19050-5 (cloth)

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From: Agriculturesci.beekeeping <[email-masked]>
Date: 2 May 1996 18:40:18 GMT

If you would like to consult the originator see 'The Dance 
Language and Orientation of Bees' Karl von Frisch. London 1967.

Good luck Ted Hooper.

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From: Ben Syversen <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 03 May 1996 17:26:36 -0700

>         on either bees or beekeeping. Any help is greatly

I am a beginning beekeeper, and in search of information, looked 
everywhere including my computer encyclopedia, Encarta, where I found an 
article with a lot of info about this. It is as follows:

Communication
    
A well-perfected system of communication exists among the honeybees. In 
studies of bees begun in the early 1900s, the Austrian zoologist Karl von 
Frisch determined many of the details of their means of communication. In 
a classic paper published in 1923 von Frisch described how after a field 
bee discovers a new source of food, such as a field in bloom, she fills 
her honey sac with nectar, returns to the hive, and performs a vigorous 
but highly standardized dance. If the new source of food is within about 
90 m (about 100 yd) of the hive, the bee performs a circular dance, first 
moving about 2 cm or more, and then circling in the opposite direction. 
Numerous bees in the hive closely follow the dancer, imitating her 
movements. During this ceremony the other workers scent the fragrance of 
the flowers from which the dancer collected the nectar. Having learned 
that food is not far from the hive, and what it smells like, the other 
bees leave the hive and fly in widening circles until they find the 
source. 
  
If the new source of nectar or pollen is from several hundred meters to 2 
or 3 km away, the discoverer performs a more elaborate dance 
characterized by intermittent movement across the diameter of the circle, 
and constant and vigorous wagging of her abdomen. Every movement of this 
dance seems to have significance. The number of times the bee circles 
during a given interval informs the other bees how far to fly for the 
food. Movement across the diameter in a straight run indicates the 
direction of the food source. If the straight run is upward, the source 
is directly toward the sun. Should the straight run be downward, it 
signifies that the bees may reach the food by flying with their backs to 
the sun. In the event the straight run veers off at an angle to the 
vertical, the bees must follow a course to the right or left of the sun 
at the same angle that the straight run deviates from the vertical. Bees 
under observation in a glass hive demonstrate their instructions so 
clearly that it is possible for trained observers to understand the 
directions given by the dancers. 

There was also a cool little (long) animation that went with this.

 	 -Ben

P.S. try looking at your local library :)

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From: Ben Syversen <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 03 May 1996 17:27:00 -0700

Communication

 	 -Ben

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From: [email-masked] (Adam Finkelstein)
Date: 4 May 1996 11:13:34 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
>P.S. try looking at your local library :)

If you want a complete bibliography on this topic and the
famous ongoing controversy, email me.

Adam

-- 
_________________
Adam Finkelstein                    
[email-masked]