Why does the Honeybee Dance? (6 Awesome Facts You Never Knew)
Nobel Prize Award Winning Discovery
Did you know how powerful the honeybee dance is? Watch the short video clips below.
Karl Ritter von Frisch won a Nobel prize for cracking the honeybees' communication code in 1973. It was discovered that these little insects have an awesome sense of time, distance and direction. Newer studies have also suggested that honeybees measure distances by the amount of optical information encountered during a flight (The Journal of Experimental Biology 199, 155-162, 1996). But their miraculous ability to communicate information about flower sources and calculate distances can only be fully explained by their Creator.
The Awesome Honeybee Dance
1. When Nectar Source is Discovered
Upon discovering a food source, the honeybee returns to its hive to report on the nectar’s quality and location by dancing.
2. Dance to Inform Nectar Location
It shakes its body and dances in the direction of the nectar source with reference to the sun’s position.
3. Make Use of Sun's Position and Movement
It even takes into the account that the sun movement when describing to the rest of the bees the flower location.
4. Dance to Inform Food Source Distance
Its dance duration & no. of vibrations tell the exact distance to the flowers. It stores just enough honey for the journey.
5. Map out Shortest Route
The bee quickly works out the shortest route to feed from a network of flower sources to minimize flying time.
6. Calculate Faster Than Computers
Studies show that the bee, with its sesame seed-sized brain, calculates the most efficient route speedier than computers.
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