Why Bees Mostly Ignore The Waggle Dance

[00:00] You've probably heard that bees use a

[00:02] complex set of movements, often called

[00:04] the waggle dance, to tell other worker

[00:06] bees where to find new sources of

[00:07] nectar. It's a super clever and

[00:09] sophisticated system. But it turns out

[00:11] that bees almost never immediately jump

[00:14] up to follow the directions they just

[00:15] got, which weirdly is also super clever

[00:19] and sophisticated. Hi, I'm Cameron and

[00:21] this is Minute Earth. Most communal

[00:24] insects lead their nestmates to

[00:25] promising food sources with pheromone

[00:27] trails. But bees like Beatatric here fly

[00:30] long distances to find flower patches.

[00:32] Chemical signals would just disappear

[00:34] into the air. Instead, after returning

[00:37] to the hive, bee shares information

[00:39] about a promising patch through

[00:41] choreography. The direction she moves

[00:43] describes the exact direction to the

[00:45] patch relative to the sun. The time she

[00:47] spends waggling tells her sisters how

[00:49] far the patch is in that direction, and

[00:51] the intensity conveys how promising Bee

[00:54] thinks the patch is. This complicated

[00:56] set of movements adds up to a set of map

[00:58] coordinates tagged with a starred review

[01:01] for bees. And Bee might repeat her

[01:03] choreography as many as 50 times to make

[01:06] sure the other workers catch every move.

[01:08] And at this point, I guess I should

[01:09] mention that the inside of a beehive is

[01:11] completely dark. Nearby workers have to

[01:13] follow Bee's every move by touching her

[01:16] with their antenna. But as much as 93%

[01:19] of the time, the other workers will

[01:21] observe this long, intricate set of

[01:23] movements and then just go on with their

[01:25] day, which actually makes sense. I mean,

[01:28] most of these workers are expert

[01:29] foragers themselves. They already have

[01:31] patches they know and like. There's also

[01:33] the risk of getting lost while following

[01:35] someone else's directions. Plus, bee

[01:37] might have overestimated how promising

[01:39] the patch actually is or might have made

[01:41] a mistake in her directions. Instead, a

[01:44] bee analyzes the information conveyed by

[01:46] a waggle dance. They weigh the risks of

[01:48] venturing into the unknown versus

[01:50] sticking with what they know and then

[01:52] make a decision. And the vast majority

[01:54] of the time, bees end up passing on that

[01:56] suggestion, which probably isn't

[01:58] different than how you use crowdsourced

[02:00] information. One five-star review

[02:02] probably wouldn't convince you to visit

[02:04] a new place instead of one you already

[02:06] love. But let's say your favorite place

[02:08] was closed or there were dozens of

[02:10] five-star reviews for this new place.

[02:12] Then you might be convinced to take the

[02:14] chance. It's the same with bees. In

[02:16] early spring and late fall when flower

[02:19] patches are few and far between or after

[02:21] a destructive storm, a bee's go-to spots

[02:23] are more likely to be empty. And in that

[02:26] case, it might be worth taking a chance

[02:28] on what another bee is buzzing about.

[02:30] And if multiple bees are giving the same

[02:32] information about the same patch, the

[02:34] worker is more likely to take a chance

[02:36] and visit it. So even though most of the

[02:38] time bees don't follow the directions

[02:40] conveyed by waggle dances, the

[02:42] information becomes part of the hive's

[02:44] communal knowledge, even if they don't

[02:46] make a beline for it.

[02:51] Now, here's a boogie you should totally

[02:53] pay attention to. Minute Earth is

[02:55] nominated for a Webby Award, and we

[02:57] would love it if you would buzz over to

[02:59] the link in the description and give us

[03:00] your vote. Making buzzworthy videos that

[03:03] explore the incredible science of insect

[03:05] communication and so much more takes a

[03:08] lot of effort from the workerbees over

[03:09] here. And if you love what we do, please

[03:11] consider joining Minute Earth on

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[03:15] digging into these topics and bringing

[03:16] them to you. Plus, our highle patrons

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[03:20] t-shirt club design, which shows

[03:22] everyone exactly how to do the waggle

[03:24] dance. Come join the dance party at

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