Page 92 - The Miracle of the Honeybee

90 THE MIRACLE OF THE HONEYBEE

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distance of the food source. In order to describe a distance of 250 meters
(820 feet), for instance, the bee will shake its abdomen 5 times in 30 sec-
onds. It has been observed that by means of these dances, bees are able to
inform one another of food sources at distances of up to 9 to 10 kilometers
(5 to 6 miles).
For bees, another essential piece of information is the quality of the
food at the source. This they obtain thanks to the scent that has settled on
the bee performing the dance.
In the light of the information thus communicated, it is an easy matter
for the other bees to find the food source. The number of bees that gather
at the source is directly proportionate to the number of bees performing
the dance. If a single bee performs it, the whole hive does not go into ac-

Sun
No two figure-eight dances are the
same. To the side can be seen the di-
rection of the great many dances
performed when the food source is
80 degrees to the left of the Sun.
The triangles formed by the bees as
they dance show the direction of the
clockwise dances, and the circles,
that of the counter-clockwise
dances.

Forager bees need not fly in
a direct straight line
to a food
source in
Hive Route taken by order to be
subsequent bees able to tell its
location. In the
experiment
shown at the side, Karl
von Frisch had bees fly around a
building between them and the
food source. Yet the bees still
Interrupted lines managed to describe the loca-
indicating the
direct route tion on a straight line, shown in
Food source the diagram with interrupted
Route taken by the lines, and the other bees fol-
foragers
lowed a straight line to find it.