Behavior in Bees

Worker bees must communicate with one another about the location of food sources, which may change as a flowers blooms or dies. One way bees do this is by performing a dance. When a worker returns to the hive, it is suddenly surrounded by other worker bees, which sense its movements. There is a round dance that seems to communicate simply that there is food nearby. If the food is farther from the hive, a worker will appear to communicate both the direction and distance of the food through a waggle type dance. Because it is often dark inside the hive, other bees follow the dancing bee's movements mainly through sound, taste, and touch.